Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Things were starting to turn around for the Washington Capitals, but now they have hit a roadblock with an injury to defenseman Mike Green. Green aggravated a groin injury and will now miss some time for the Capitals. Green missed Washington’s game against the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday afternoon and while Green hasn’t been a huge scoring threat for the Capitals, he does bring stability to the back end of the defense for Washington.

Green had missed two weeks before returning for two games and then getting hurt again. Green has played in just 16 games this year with two goals and five assists. The thing about Green is the fact that he is on the ice a lot, averaging 26 minutes a game which is near the top of the whole National Hockey League. There are many defensemen that you want out there for nearly 30 minutes each night and Green was becoming one of those players before he hit injury problems over the last few seasons.

If Green can come back from his groin injury and can stay on the ice for the rest of the season, Washington would at least have a solid defenseman back there to support whoever is in net for the team. The Capitals had won four straight games before a loss on Wednesday and were recovering nicely from an awful start to the season. With Green’s return, it looked like things were going to continue to go up for the team. It looks like that climb has been temporarily derailed with Green out yet again

Andy Schmidt is a columnist/writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ASchmidtSports, like his Facebook page or add him to your network on Google.