Welcome back, Sean Collins. If the Caps had chosen to start the season with seven defensemen Collins would have been the choice, according to coach Bruce Boudreau. But salary-cap implications and a relatively easy travel schedule (only road games at Pittsburgh and Philadelphia) allowed Washington to stick with 22 players on the roster and just six defensemen. Defenseman John Erskine’s cap hit still counts, but until he passes a team physical on his surgically repaired left shoulder he doesn’t take up a roster spot.
Erskine still hasn’t been cleared and didn’t make the team’s trip to Edmonton Tuesday afternoon. And defenseman Mike Green is fighting an ankle injury, according to his agent. The Caps couldn’t afford to have just six defensemen on the roster so far from home in Edmonton and Vancouver this weekend. An injury or illness could further complicate things. So Collins finally gets his chance.
Nothing new. The 27-year-old was a late-season recall last spring and played pretty well in the final four regular season games. He scored a goal and was a +2 while averaging about 14 minutes, 30 seconds of ice time per game. Even got into Washington’s last game of the year in Game 4 of the second round Stanley Cup playoff series vs. Tampa Bay.
Things didn’t go so well that night, though. Remember, Green was out, John Carlson was a mess physically with a painful hip pointer and Dennis Wideman (right leg hematoma) hadn’t played all postseason. Collins, teamed with Erskine, was outraced to a puck by Tampa Bay’s Sean Bergenheim early in the second period. Caps goalie Michal Neuvirth played it around the net, but Collins failed to track Bergenheim quickly enough and was out-fought for a loose puck in the slot. The ensuing goal made it 3-1 Lightning and put Washington in a hole from which it didn’t recover in the loss and four-game sweep. But Collins, who played just 6:10 that night, is higher on the organization’s depth chart this season.
“When we phoned down there [Collins is] the best right-handed defenseman that [Hershey] had,” Boudreau said. “He’s got experience playing for us. And he’s playing well. If we had of kept a seventh here he would have been the one that we were keeping anyway. He was the logical choice.”
Not sure yet if Collins is definitely in against the Oilers. He and Boudreau weren’t saying. Green is on the trip so there’s still a chance his right ankle feels well enough for him to play in Edmonton. Boudreau hoped Green could skate at practice on Wednesday in Edmonton. If that doesn’t happen, Collins was paired with Jeff Schultz in practice on Tuesday. Those two played one preseason game together. Otherwise, Collins skated with Hershey teammates Dmitry Orlov and Patrick McNeill. If he plays, Wideman will move up to skate with Roman Hamrlik. But Collins says he’s ready if needed.
“The fact that I’m going to be able to get into two practices is really good because Washington has as good or probably the best group of forwards in the league,” Collins said. “So I’m facing them in practice. That definitely helped. That’s the way I look at it. If I’m going against Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom and Johansson and Semin in practice I’m not going to face a hell of a lot better in games. And they’ll skate really hard in practice. I know I’m getting their best.”
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