The Capitals are making a notable adjustment on the back end, bringing Justin Holl up from the Hershey Bears while moving Matt Roy to injured reserve and Rasmus Sandin to long-term injured reserve.
It’s a shuffle driven by necessity, but one Washington has some comfort with. Holl opened training camp as a player fighting for a spot, with challengers such as Dylan McIlrath pushing for minutes and eventually landing the seventh-defenseman job.
Now the Capitals need Holl’s experience more than ever. Earlier this summer, Carbery called Holl “a very, very reliable veteran” who can help with a penalty kill.
The 34-year-old has one year left at $900K on his current deal.
There’s also some familiar history behind the move. In Holl’s final season with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2022-23, Carbery was an assistant coach on Sheldon Keefe’s staff.
Holl led all Maple Leafs blueliners in average short-handed time on ice that year, logging a little over three minutes per game. That role helped earn him a three-year, $3.4MM AAV contract with the Detroit Red Wings that summer, and the Capitals are hoping he can find that level again in Washington.
Roy’s absence is a bigger immediate blow. He’d been listed day to day with a lower-body injury before this transaction, then exited late in the second period on October 2 against Tampa Bay.
The 31-year-old is the kind of defenseman coaches lean on for hard minutes: shutdown play, physical contact, and shot blocking. Washington has had to reshuffle things in order to absorb the loss of a player who carries a $5.75MM annual cap hit through the next four seasons.
Before getting hurt, Roy had already logged heavy usage. He played 22:29 in the season opener against the Tampa Bay Lightning, finishing with three hits and five blocked shots. In his next appearance on Oct. 3 against Tampa Bay, he skated 14:22, posted no points, and added two hits before leaving with the injury.
Sandin’s move to LTIR reflects a longer recovery path. The 26-year-old tore his ACL late in the 2025-26 season and was originally projected to need six to nine months to return, putting him around month six of that timetable now. Back in April of 2026, the team expected him to stay on that track, and Caps GM Chris Patrick said he was “hopeful based on how he looks that maybe we’re closer to the earlier part of that” recovery window, referring to the original six-to-nine-month estimate.
Sandin is in year two of the five-year, $23MM extension he signed with Washington in 2024. Acquired from Toronto the year before in a trade, he has averaged more than 20 minutes per game over 202 regular-season contests for the Capitals.
His 2025-26 season included 29 points in 73 games, good for third among Washington defensemen, along with a little over 19 minutes of ice time per night. He also finished fourth on the team’s blue line with 90 shots on goal, third with 127 blocks, and third with 88 hits.
Washington’s defense isn’t collapsing, but the right side is taking real hits here. Roy’s minutes and Sandin’s all-around production will be missed, and for now the burden shifts to Timothy Liljegren, Vincent Desharnais, and McIlrath.
In Other News...
Hurricanes Bring An Early Test Washington Might Not Be Ready For
Mid-October is already bringing a useful measuring stick for Washington, and it starts with a road test against Carolina before the schedule shifts back home for Montreal and New Jersey. The Capitals have spent the opening stretch trying to tighten their defensive structure while also sorting out where the offense can come from beyond the top line, which makes this upcoming run feel like more than just another early-season set of games.
Carolina is the kind of opponent that can expose a teams habits in a hurry, especially when puck management slips and the pace gets turned up. Washington is also still working through power-play efficiency and looking for steadier contributions from the bottom six, so this week should say a lot about how far along the group really is, and how much work is still ahead. [Read more 🡒]
Capitals Blue Line Shuffle Leaves A Bigger Question For Washington
The Capitals blue line took another hit in the wake of a season already defined by churn, with Rasmus Sandin moved to long-term injured reserve and Matt Roy shifted to injured reserve. Washington turned to Hershey for help, recalling Justin Holl as it tries to patch together a defense group that has had to keep adjusting around absences and uncertainty.
Sandin is working back from knee surgery and is expected to return before the new year, while Roy has been sidelined since early October with a lower-body injury. The immediate roster move gives Washington a little breathing room, but it also leaves the club managing a lineup that still feels in flux, with the bigger question centered on how long the Capitals can keep things steady while waiting for their regulars to come back. [Read more 🡒]
Capitals Know Whats Holding Them Back After Another Costly Loss
After another loss, the Capitals were left talking less about talent and more about the habits that keep getting in the way. Players and coach Spencer Carbery pointed to the same theme after the setback to Seattle: the execution has been slipping because the group is trying to do too much, forcing plays instead of letting the game come to it.
Washington sees the fix as a matter of sharper puck management, cleaner decisions and getting the lineup to settle into itself. Carbery acknowledged the team is still sorting through a new roster and a different style of play, but the message around the room was not panic so much as patience, with the belief that these issues can be cleaned up if the focus sharpens soon. [Read more 🡒]