

Tom Wilson, shown here last season, will begin the season on IR alongside three other Capitals (AP Photo/Matt Slocum).

The Washington Capitals have finalized their 23-man roster for opening night, with plans to place four skaters onto varying forms of injured reserve, Coach Barry Trotz announced Tuesday.

“We’ve made them,” he said. “There’s not really anything we need to do. We’re going to probably have to manipulate something here just for a day or two in terms of salary cap stuff. I think we’re all fine.”

Speaking at the team’s practice facility following its annual media luncheon, Trotz ended what little intrigue remained before the NHL’s 5 p.m. deadline.

Forwards Jay Beagle (upper body) and Tom Wilson (ankle) will be placed onto injured reserve, available for activation no sooner than seven days following Thursday’s opener versus Montreal; defenseman Dmitry Orlov (wrist) and forward Aaron Volpatti will go onto long-term injured reserve, which requires 10 games and 24 calendar days.

These moves, while jamming the roster once everyone is healthy, cleared room for the Capitals to retain forward Liam O’Brien, one of the NHL’s biggest training camp surprises, as well as defensemen Jack Hillen, John Erskine and Nate Schmidt, all of whom were thought to have been battling for two available blue-line spots.

“We have guys who have actually played well in camp and will play on that fourth line for now,” general manager Brian MacLellan said. “I don’t know if we truly know what we have, because these injured guys, they’re going to be out for a little while here. It’s evolving into something different until they come back. Guys are playing well. Throw them in.”

Meanwhile, the deactivation of Beagle and the uncertain health of Mike Green (upper body) allowed Washington to keep three defensemen as a safety blanket. (The full expected opening-night roster, with lines, is listed at the end of this post.)

“He’s very close,” Trotz said of Green. “We’ll see where he is tomorrow, so we can make some decisions on that. Schmidt has done very well…We’ve got what I consider our five, then who will get the sixth spot will be determined on Mike Green’s health.”

Wilson and Volpatti both practiced Tuesday morning, though Wilson’s return to the lineup appears closer. The 20-year-old played all 82 games with the Capitals as a rookie last season, but Trotz will consider both a straight-up rehabilitation stint in Hershey and a brief toe-dipping experience in Washington – think eight or nine minutes on the fourth line — before a longer, top-six stint with the Bears.

“Both ways, I think his eyes are open to that too,” Trotz said. ‘I would say it’s not going to hurt, that’s for sure.”

Beagle, who skated early Tuesday with Orlov and strength coach Mark Nemish, said he is targeting a return early next week, sometime around Washington’s three-game homestand beginning with San Jose. The forward declined to provide specifics of his injury but said he has felt “better and better” each day. Orlov, for his part, is still rehabilitating from offseason wrist surgery and isn’t expected back until November.

Eventually, though, the injured bodies will trickle back and the Capitals will have bigger decisions to make. Should O’Brien stay up or head to Hershey on his two-way deal? Have Schmidt and Brown earned NHL spots, or due to their waiver exemption, could they simply be stashed in the AHL to clear room? The Capitals shopped Erskine this summer but found no takers, so do they keep trying that avenue whenever Orlov comes back and bumps everything down a notch?

“Ideally we want the guy that’s playing the best, that’s going to help us win the best,” MacLellan said. “Sometimes contracts and waiver situations might dictate roster moves, but I think over time it all works out that you get the guy that’s playing the best.”

For now, though, optimism reigned at Kettler Capitals Iceplex, the start of a new season under a new regime upon the horizon, the roster finalized and ready to roll.

“Going on a journey,” is how Trotz described it.

2014-15 PROJECTED OPENING DAY ROSTER

FORWARDS

Alex Ovechkin-Nicklas Backstrom-Eric Fehr

Marcus Johansson-Andre Burakovsky-Troy Brouwer

Jason Chimera-Brooks Laich-Joel Ward

Liam O’Brien OR Michael Latta-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Latta OR Chris Brown

DEFENSEMEN

John Carlson-Brooks Orpik

Karl Alzner-Matt Niskanen

Two of the following: Mike Green, Nate Schmidt, Jack Hillen, John Erskine

GOALTENDERS

Braden Holtby

Justin Peters

INJURED RESERVE

Jay Beagle

Dmitry Orlov

Aaron Volpatti

Tom Wilson