Aaron Doster — Imagn Images
ARLINGTON, V.A. — The Washington Capitals have made yet another round of cuts, getting their roster to 27 players.
Washington assigned Andrew Cristall, Ilya Protas, Eriks Mateiko, Ryan Chesley and Leon Muggli to the AHL’s Hershey Bears, and placed Sheldon Rempal on waivers.
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Cristall had a standout training camp, making noise and scoring four goals in the preseason, but ultimately, will get more time in Hershey to develop and round out his game.
Protas, the younger brother of Aliaksei, also impressed, but will join Cristall in his first pro campaign and get to fine-tune his game. He has a lot of promise for D.C., especially at center.
Mateiko and Muggli will also get their first taste of AHL action, while Chesley will return to the Bears after joining them at the end of last season. Chesley was one of the standouts at camp, but there just isn’t room for him, and more time in the AHL will work wonders.
Rempal also had a standout camp with 12 shots through two preseason games, but there isn’t room for the 30-year-old on the roster. If he clears, he’ll add much-needed scoring depth to a Hershey team that lost a number of players in the offseason.
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The Capitals return to practice on Friday at 10:30 a.m. and have one more preseason game left on the schedule. There, Spencer Carbery will give a handful of fringe players their final shot to show what they can do.
Sonny Milano and Hendirx Lapierre appear to be locks for a spot, with Ivan MIroshnichenko and Ethen Frank still in the competition up front. On defense, Vincent Iorio is sticking around and gunning for that final spot with Dylan McIlrath.