Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan announced Wednesday afternoon that forward Carl Hagelin had surgery on his eye and will be out indefinitely.
MacLellan labeled the injury “serious” and says Hagelin is meeting with another doctor today to discuss the next steps.
Hagelin suffered the injury in the very last drill of Tuesday’s practice. NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti said at the time of occurrence that the Swedish forward “had a towel pressed to his eye area” and there was “total silence among his teammates” after it happened.
“It’s a serious eye injury,” MacLellan said. “I don’t think we know the full extent of it yet. He has a meeting this afternoon with a different eye doctor. Had surgery on it last night. It’s to be determined what the next steps are here for him.
“The vision part is the biggest concern,” MacLellan added. “I think we were really worried last night. I don’t know, it’s sort of positive news that the examination went in the right direction. But it’s still to be determined on what the next steps are and what effect it’ll have on him.”
Without Hagelin, the Caps will have to figure out a solution on their fourth line that has been their clear best forward trio since the start of 2022.
Caps skaters on-ice stats since the new year, from @NatStatTrick, ordered by goals-for%. pic.twitter.com/DdwUWChCEO
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“Obviously, he’s a big part of our PK,” MacLellan said. “He’s our number one PK guy. He’s one of the better PK’ers in the league. That fourth line’s been phenomenal for us for the last couple years and he’s a big part of it. They play against top lines. They start in our own end and they do a good job. So we’re going to miss him.”
After a less than spectacular start to the season offensively, Hagelin had seven points in February which saw him tied with Evgeny Kuznetsov for the team-lead in points among forwards.
Eye injuries are very scary so we wish Carl the best as he recovers.
March 6 update: The Capitals officially announced Carl Hagelin’s left eye surgery.
Washington Capitals forward Carl Hagelin underwent surgery on his left eye and will be out indefinitely. Hagelin remains under the care of the Capitals medical team and will have additional follow-up evaluations.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) March 6, 2022
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB
