In yet another sign of Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau's philosophy with goalies, Braden Holtby has been reassigned to the Hershey Bears of the AHL, the team announced Saturday. The move isn't remarkable in and of itself, because Holtby has gone up and down to Hershey all season. The timing, however, is interesting.
Holtby was reassigned to make room for Semyon Varlamov, who is recovering from an injury of his own. With Michal Neuvirth back as the starting goalie, the team doesn't have the roster space to carry all three goalies. Holtby, therefore, was sent down to clear roster space.
Still, it's a pretty striking move when you consider that Holtby surrendered just six goals in his five most recent starts in March, all of which were Capitals wins. Someone had to get sent down, and Holtby is the obvious candidate. It's just rare to see a guy succeed so well as a starter, only to get sent down to the AHL a few days later.