The Washington Capitals haven’t updated T.J. Oshie’s status after exiting Saturday’s game early other than to tell reporters including Samantha Pell of the Washington Post that he is out indefinitely. Oshie did not travel with the team to Carolina and will not play in tonight’s game.
John Carlson is also out with a lower-body injury and will not play tonight, but the team designated him as day-to-day. That suggests Oshie’s indefinite timeline is longer than that, a substantial blow for a team that is already without Nicklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson, Connor Brown, and Carl Hagelin due to various injuries. With Oshie exiting early, Conor Sheary played a season-high 18:55 in the win over Nashville.
The 35-year-old Oshie had scored five points in his first six games of the season but was held off the scoresheet in the two games previous to Saturday’s tilt. The veteran winger still plays a ton for the Capitals, including as a key part of their first powerplay unit. Hopefully, this new injury isn’t one that keeps him out too long, especially given his experience last season.
Oshie played just 44 games and had the worst statistical season of his career, scoring just 11 goals and 25 points. Signed through 2024-25, getting him back to full strength will be important for the Capitals’ contention in the Metropolitan Division.
Talk about a team that needs a bucket of “next-man-up” pills!
This is an old team and things aren’t going to get much better.
Oh boy. He’s the glue to the power play imo. Gonna be tough to stay afloat with all these injuries
It’s unfortunate, but looks like a new normal for him. He’s still a very good player when he’s on the ice, so his ability there has not declined… yet.
The Capitals really need/needed to trade off some of the older guys who still have value like Carlson to bring in some younger players. Despite Carlson’s defensive shortcomings, he’d still be valuable to a solid defensive team looking to add some offense especially if the Caps would eat some of his contract. I don’t think they will, but the team needs to get younger while some of the vets still have some value. I’d probably hang on to Oshie and hope he has a year or two left of quality production, but not looking good.
I want to see the young guys step up. Protas has looked good so far, want to see more of McMichael, Alexeyev is close to a return though no telling what quality of defenseman he will be. It will be interesting to see what the young ones do and if guys like Mantha can step up their game.