Washington shuffled its roster around on Wednesday, making a trio of moves -- beginning with news that veteran defenseman John Erskine has been placed on long-term injured reserve.
Erskine, 33, was put on IR retroactively to Oct. 26, having already missed four games earlier this season with an upper-body injury. According to the Washington Post, the latest issue could be with his surgically repaired right knee.
To replace Erskine, the Caps recalled Dmitry Orlov from AHL Hershey. The Russian rearguard, who burst onto the scene in 2011-12 by scoring 19 points in 60 games for Washington, was largely out of the mix last season (just five games with the Caps) and hadn’t played at all at the NHL level this year.
In another move, the Caps also recalled forward Michael Latta from Hershey. Acquired in the Martin Erat-Filip Forsberg deal, Latta started the year in Washington and played two games before being dispatched to Hershey, where he’s scored two goals and four points in six games.