Capitals Notebook: Brown, Kuznetsov Miss Practice, Reverse Retro Debut

ARLINGTON, V.A. — For Darcy Kuemper, Washington Capitals practice felt like Christmas morning. When he got to the locker room, he saw his brand new Reverse Retro gear in his stall, and the rest of the team also got new team-issued gloves, helmets, pants and socks to go with the look that is expected to debut in November.

There were two names missing, though, as Connor Brown and Evgeny Kuznetsov missed Tuesday’s practice. Brown is dealing with a lower-body injury and is still being evaluated. Kuznetsov took a maintenance day and had his hearing this morning for his high stick on Kyle Burroughs in Monday’s 6-4 Capitals win over the Vancouver Canucks.

“There’s a lot of things we’re just dealing with inside the room and we’ll wait to see what happens,” head coach Peter Laviolette said.

Laviolette also said that he thought Kuznetsov’s high stick was “accidental” and “reactionary.”

READ MORE ON WHN: First Look At Washington Capitals Reverse Retro Gear, New Concept & Confirmed Color Scheme

Brown left the game in the third period after taking an awkward hit along the boards from Noah Juulsen. He appeared to injure his right leg and possibly knee, and wasn’t putting any weight on it as he went to the bench and went down the tunnel. Brown did not return to action.

It is unclear whether or not he’ll be out long term. If he is, Connor McMichael and Joe Snively are the extra forwards.

The rest of the practice featured fun games for Washington, who has won back-to-back games. The team held a couple of mini scrimmages and then had a shootout to close out practice. There were also some combinations tested out. Lars Eller centered Alex Ovechkin and Conor Sheary with Kuznetsov out. Dylan Strome played between Anthony Mantha and T.J. Oshie.