TJ Oshie is a team leader and widely considered to be one of the Capitals’ heart and soul players. But this season, he has not been on the ice much.
Oshie has missed 30 of the team’s 49 games due to a combination of a leg injury, COVID-19, non-COVID illness, and an upper-body injury. His latest issue, an upper-body injury he suffered early in a game against the New York Islanders on January 15, has caused him to miss the last 11 games.
It’s unclear when Oshie will return, but the good news is that he is beginning to show his face more.
Since the Capitals returned from the All-Star Break, Oshie has been spotted multiple times on the team’s bench during practice. His latest appearance, during Wednesday’s skate, saw Oshie rocking a hoodie, beanie, and shorts presumably after a workout. Oshie, according to Capitals fan Julia, did some stickhandling and dumped some pucks around the boards appearing to test out his injury.
Oshie was also spotted speaking with coaches and several teammates including Tom Wilson.
According to The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir, Oshie said he was “getting better every day” as he walked back into the locker room.
Oshie (UBI) came onto the rink momentarily in a t-shirt, shorts and sneakers as well as gloves and a stick. He stickhandled for a bit, chipped a couple of pucks against the boards as if testing something. "Getting better every day," he said as he headed back to the room. #Caps
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) February 9, 2022
The Capitals have officially classified the top-six winger as being out week-to-week.
“Hopefully we get TJ back at some point,” Laviolette said recently, “but he’s not out on the ice with us yet.”
With the Capitals’ power play slumping to one of the league’s worst and the team overall losing 10 of their last 15 games, he cannot come back soon enough.
Headline photo: @casadoresdean/Twitter
