Washington Capitals forward TJ Oshie suffered an upper-body injury in the team’s latest preseason game against the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday.
The 35-year-old winger then missed Thursday’s practice and head coach Peter Laviolette announced to the media that Oshie is considered day-to-day and will likely miss the Caps’ final exhibition game on Saturday.
Friday, Oshie took the ice before the team’s regular practice in a non-contact jersey and got in some light skating and stick-handling work.
The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir also reported that defenseman Dmitry Orlov (lower-body) and center Lars Eller (illness) missed Friday’s practice entirely. Orlov was also absent on Thursday. The team has listed both as day-to-day.
Encouraging news: T.J. Oshie on the ice this morning skating ahead of the team’s practice session. pic.twitter.com/PNjECuRz9r
— John Walton (@JohnWaltonPxP) October 7, 2022
While Oshie skating at all is an encouraging sight, El-Bashir noted that the veteran winger was “holding back a bit.” That tracks with what Laviolette told the media, including RMNB, on Thursday.
“He’s dealing with something,” Laviolette said. “We’re still trying to get a handle on that. The beauty about ‘day-to-day’ is that it allows me tomorrow to say ‘day-to-day’ again or you’ll see him out on the ice.”
Oshie missed 38 games last season due to a lower-body injury, an upper-body injury, COVID, and a non-COVID illness. After the season, he had surgery on a different injury involving his core and was held out of the first day of Training Camp.
The Capitals are already set to enter the season without Nicklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson, and Carl Hagelin. The team has yet to make their final roster cuts before the regular season so forwards like Henrik Borgstrom, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Brett Leason, Aliaksei Protas, and Joe Snively are still with the big club and could fill in if needed.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
