Arlington, go – Capitals will pass Martin Fehervary For the rest of the playoffs, announcing Tuesday morning that he had finished for the season after having undergone surgery to repair the meniscus on the right knee.
Fehervary was a key element in Washington’s blue line this season – although he is not the offensive flash of a Jakob Chychrun or a John Carlson, he intervened as one of the best defensive players in Washington. For head coach Spencer Carbery, seeing an under-authorized player sidelined added even more insult to the injury.
“My heart hurts for him because he is an unknown hero for our team,” said Carbery on Tuesday. “If you know Washington’s capitals and if you are with our team and if you look at our team, it is someone who goes unnoticed, the rest of the world of hockey probably does not pay much attention, but it’s a large part of our team.
“He contributes his buttocks every day, every night. Brings him into play.
Fehervary suffered the injury on April 15, going down against the New York Icelanders when he tried to block a shot during the first period. He came back to the game in the second but has not played since.
The absences scored the first games he missed all season – despite a litany of blocked shots and at least three facial injuries, he was one of the eight capital players to play 81 consecutive games to start the campaign. He ended the year with a 25 -point career summit (5g, 20A) and recorded on average 19 minutes on the ice per game, leading the team both in time of total death (232: 37) and shots blocked per game (1.85).
“It’s difficult,” said Matt Roy, Fehervary’s most common defense partner this season, about the injury. “It is obviously a huge loss for us. He had such a happy new year and he contributes hard for us, so we will certainly miss. ”
Alex Alexeyev replaced Fehervary in the programming of match 1, setting up the third line while Rasmus Sandin was moving towards the second line with Roy. Carbery confirmed on Tuesday that Alexeyev was to play in match 2 despite “important dental work” on Monday evening after taking a stick in the face.
Although less common than the twinning Fehervary-Roy, Roy and Sandin had a good gaming experience together this season while the capital mixed their defensive combinations, recording 392: 36 on the ice in 69 games.
Roy said that these regular and greatest flexibility of the team with defensive pairs have thrown a base for the duo of his playoffs with Sandinin.
“We are all a little familiar with each other, some guys more than others,” he said. “Me and Sandy have also played together. But I think that the transitions should be quite transparent and it’s just a question of competition and execution.”
Alexeyev will continue to compete for Fehervary in the programming, but he will not be responsible for replacing the contributions from Fehervary. After playing with only five defenders in the last game of the regular season, the capital obtained their first appropriate test of a blue line without Fehevary in match 1 against Montreal.
Asked who was to intervene with Fehervary, Carbery appointed almost all the defenders of the team, highlighting the role of Fehervary on the penalty.
“The easy answer is Alexeyev, which enters the programming, then it will be a shared workload,” he said. “It will be Riemer (Trevor Van Riemsdyk), it will be Johnny (John Carlson), Jakob Chychrun. Now you have different PKS. Marty Fehervary is a first with John over the board of directors for us.
Although Carbery was not a NHL head coach for another eliminatory series – last year’s defeat against New York Rangers – he already has a lot of experience in a defense corps. Rasmus Sandin, Nick Jensen, Trevor Van Riemsdyk and Vincent Iorio all missed part of the series while the Capitals have deepened their organizational depth, recalling at some point a defender except one within the framework of the NHL contract.
Capitals have finally lost against New York in a scan, but Carbery believes that the series can serve as a learning experience while the team is struggling with smaller scale injuries. Even beyond the defenders, he argued that the whole team should contribute more in the absence of Fehervary.
“Marty is a great player,” he said. “This is a large part of our team. But we can absolutely win, no lack of respect for Marty. We can absolutely play well and always win hockey matches without him. It is not disrespectful.
“Everyone inside our group, not only our D-Core, everyone inside our group, the attackers included, the coaches included, the goalkeepers included, can do a little more to compensate for the loss of an important player. This is how we consider it.
Between the defenders lost in 2024 in the playoffs and the variety of other injuries to which the capital have treated in recent years, Nic Dowd thinks that the team is up to par.
“The good thing about our organization-well the unfortunate is that we have had so many injuries in the past three years, four years that we have had guys who have already passed in these roles and they understand what it takes to play in these roles and what it takes to succeed,” he said. “Obviously, it is regrettable that we have guys, but saying that, I think we are ready for that.”
