Snapshots: Oshie, Protas, Brodin, Gruden

Before the puck drop in the team’s game tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Washington Capitals announced two injuries to their lineup. In the announcement, the Capitals stated that forward T.J. Oshie is out with an upper-body injury, and Aliaksei Protas is out with a lower-body injury.

Although both players were given a day-to-day injury designation, it is much of the same for Oshie this season. Oshie has only played in 43 of a possible 68 games for the Capitals this season, only managing 11 goals and 19 points in the process. With one more year remaining on his eight-year, $46MM contract after this year, the injury concern is certainly piling up for the veteran forward.

Protas, on the other hand, has sustained much more health than Oshie this season, skating in 65 games for Washington. Earning a five-year, $16.875MM contract extension in January, Protas has turned into quite the playmaker for the Capitals, scoring five goals and 28 points altogether.

Other snapshots:

• Moving out West, the Minnesota Wild announced that defenseman Jonas Brodin would miss the team’s game tonight against the Los Angeles Kings with a lower-body injury. It will mark the 19th game that Brodin has missed this season with injury, as an upper-body injury, as well as another lower-body injury, have kept him out of the lineup for multiple games at a time. Nevertheless, Brodin is still the second-highest-scoring defenseman for the Wild this season, putting up seven goals and 23 points in 51 games.
• After filling in for the injured Jeff Carter last night, Jonathan Gruden has been returned to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins after being recalled on an emergency loan. Gruden will return to a situation in WBS where he has been largely successful this year, scoring 13 goals and 24 points in 43 games at the AHL level.