The Washington Capitals lead the Eastern Conference but face challenges incorporating players like McIlrath, Alexyev, and Vrana into the lineup due to various factors including injuries and the performance of rookie Ethen Frank. Head coach Spencer Carbery acknowledged the difficulty of decisions around player rotations, highlighting the team's healthy defense corps and the high performance of veterans like John Carlson. As they approach a break in the season, integrating fresh players could potentially help manage the workload of their aging veterans.
A confluence of factors have contributed to the team's relatively stable lineup. The Capitals' defense corps has remained largely healthy this year, losing just 15 man games to injury.
Carbery said, "There has been (a desire to play them), it's just been really difficult. Knock on wood, with our lack of injuries and the success that we've been having..."
Carbery pointed to 35-year-old John Carlson as an example—Carlson leads the Caps in ice time by more than 200 minutes and his average TOI of 23:49 ranks 20th league-wide.
Head coach Spencer Carbery mentioned, "It's not easy decisions every game, and we'd love to get them in and have them play in games, but just unfortunately..."
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