Varlamov Missing Time

One of the newsworthy questions leading up to the regular season was who was going to eventually have the number one job in the crease for the Washington Capitals. An early injury to Semyon Varlamov has given the reins over to Michal Neuvirth for the time being, allowing the 22-year old Czech to get his licks in the regular season before Varlamov has a chance to compete.

The injury to this point has been undisclosed, but Varlamov was placed on the injured reserve retroactive to late in September, which means that he will be eligible to come off the injured reserve at any time, but the Capitals can have another player on their active roster until he is ready to compete again.

The word on Saturday morning is that Varlamov is feeling much better and could be ready to go sometime next week.  Neuvirth dropped his first decision against the Atlanta Thrashers on Friday night, so the Capitals may feel the need to rush him back if this weekend doesn't go according to plan.

In the draft, Varlamov belongs to our early 2-day leader, Stacey, who hasn't exactly been missing Varlamov yet.  His other half in the goaltending department, Nikolai Khabibulin, opened up the season well with a shutout against the Flames, so his goaltending tandem is holding up just fine with only one active keeper going.

On the selection sheet, Varlamov is the number one keeper for the Capitals in Box 31 and he may be a popular choice with the Capitals looking so strong offensively.  The team should be able to put some points away by just scoring more goals.

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