Spencer Carbery discusses several options to replace Alex Ovechkin on Capitals first line

The Washington Capitals are set to have a giant hole on their first line for as long as captain Alex Ovechkin is out with his lower leg injury. While no player can fill the big shoes of Ovechkin, the Capitals will need to find a temporary solution for the empty wing position next to Dylan Strome and Aliaksei Protas.

Head coach Spencer Carbery has already begun that process and mentioned several alternatives the Capitals could try in the short term on Wednesday morning.

“We have some options,” Carbery told 106.7 The Fan’s Sports Junkies. “We’re going to have to make a recall so someone will come up from Hershey, and we’ve got some guys that are in our lineup that could potentially move up there. We’re trying to balance. Stromer and Pro have been playing real well – so what you’re evaluating as a coach is someone that can go on that line and hopefully continue to produce and play well, and then you have some other lines that are going, so you don’t want to disrupt chemistry there.

“So, that’s what we’re trying to weigh, like is it a Mangiapane? Is it Taylor Raddysh, who has been solid on that fourth line playing right wing? Is it a call-up player? That’s what we’re trying to weigh – the effects of moving someone off a different line to play with Stromer.”

Andrew Mangiapane started the season playing with Ovechkin and Strome on the top line, but that experiment lasted just one game before Protas swapped spots with him in the lineup. Of Carbery’s options, Mangiapane has the most past NHL success playing top-six minutes.

The 28-year-old winger scored a career-high 35 goals during the 2021-22 season with the Calgary Flames and played hundreds of minutes with top talents like Matthew Tkachuk and Elias Lindholm during his seven-year stint in Calgary. The only thing working against Mangiapane is his left shot, as his inclusion would make for an all-left-shooting top trio, and it sounds like Carbery would like to avoid that if possible.

“No, [that line doesn’t need a right-handed shot], but it would help,” Carbery said post-practice. “I’ve said that before – I prefer wingers playing their on-sides. Protas, I like on the left side, so to put another lefty over there on the right side, but it’s not the be-all, end-all. If there’s a better fit, whether that’s Mangiapane, we’ll find out tomorrow.”

Carbery’s second suggestion of Taylor Raddysh would fit the potential right-shot requirement. Raddysh has played top-six minutes in the past, scoring 20 goals for the Chicago Blackhawks just two seasons ago, but Washington has transformed the 26-year-old into a fourth-line, energy player this year.

Raddysh and Mangiapane have recorded eight points each through the first 18 games of the season. The former is part of a key checking line for the team, though, so Carbery may be more unwilling to break that group up, while Mangiapane has been part of a third line that has been in flux for most of the fall.

“We’ve thought a lot about that over the last 24 hours of trying to figure out what those combinations look like,” Carbery said. “With us having some lineup changes, it means that you’ve got to do more than your part to get on the same page with new linemates and make sure that you’re over-communicating, talking before games and practices, making sure that you’re on the same page with little tendencies. We have had some lines that have had some good chemistry, and that may change tomorrow.”

Ivan Miroshnichenko, recalled by the Capitals on Wednesday, represents the third option Cabery mentioned. Miroshnichenko mirrors Ovechkin as a right-shot, left winger and has the most stylistically similar playstyle to The Great Eight.

The 20-year-old winger played in his first 21 NHL games last season with the Capitals but has taken a clear step forward to start this year with the AHL’s Hershey Bears. Through 16 games, he ranks second on the Bears in points with 14 (7g, 7a). Still, Carbery was careful to limit expectations on the young forward.

“I already thought about this yesterday – the optics of it,” Carbery said. “He will wholeheartedly understand that he is not up here to fill any type of void from [Ovechkin] other than a roster spot, and he’s going to be himself. Whether he gets in the game tomorrow night or not, we’ve seen him up here, we know his skillset. He’s done a pretty good job down in Hershey thus far this year, and [we] felt like he was the right choice to bring up in this situation, with needing a forward. We’ll see where that shakes out with his game and him playing.”

Carbery’s first look at his new lineup will come quickly as the Capitals host the Colorado Avalanche at Capital One Arena on Thursday night. Washington will have plenty of time to evaluate the new fits with six games over the next 10 days.