Capitals Notebook: Updates On Kuemper & Jensen Injuries, Carlson Gearing Up

ARLINGTON, V.A. — The Washington Capitals got some unwelcome news at Saturday's practice, as about seven minutes into the skate, Darcy Kuemper left the ice with an upper-body injury and appeared to be in discomfort as he made his way back to the locker room after a discussion with trainers. On top of that, the team was missing Alex Ovechkin and Nick Jensen from practice, as Ovechkin took a maintenance day while Jensen was absent due to an upper-body injury that held him out of last game.

Head coach Peter Laviolette provided an update on Kuemper and Jensen, saying that the team is evaluating Kuemper and his availability for the trip to Minnesota while Jensen is day-to-day. It's unclear what happened to either Kuemper or Jensen.

Kuemper started on Friday and remained in for the entirety of the 5-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues, stopping 17 of 21 shots (.810 save percentage).

Jensen has not played since leaving the third period of Wednesday's game with an injury, though it's unclear what the issue is.

"Nobody's healthy in there right now. There's always things going on," Laviolette said. "Obviously, [Kuemper] was fine last night and he came off here. So we're examining that right now for upper-body."

As for Ovechkin, no further update was issued on him. He had missed Tuesday's game with a lower-body injury.

On the bright side, John Carlson continued to make progress as he continues to work his way back into the mix following a fractured skull and severed temporal artery he suffered on Dec. 23 when he took a Brenden Dillon slapshot to the head. He is expected to upgrade to a non-contact jersey soon, though there's no exact date locked down at this time.

"At some point, you could flip that jersey, but he looks terrific out there, he's flying around," Laviolette said. "It's like a caged dog right now, you know what I mean? So, you could tell him he's not going to play, but at some point, he'll be cleared and he's going to want to play.

"Just watching him out there, he can jump right in," Laviolette added regarding his role when he comes back, adding, "When he is in a regular jersey out there, he's cleared to play. he's 100 percent healthy. So when that time comes, he's going to want to play."