TJ Oshie has been out of the lineup since pulling up lame in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on December 17. The team listed the crafty winger as “day-to-day” at their practice the next day.
It’s now been two full weeks since then and it appears the veteran Capitals foward is ready to slot back in.
Caps head coach Peter Laviolette spoke to the media on Monday and said that Oshie is the closest of his injured players to a return.
“I’d say TJ is probably the closest,” Laviolette said. “Backy and Willy are still off a bit. Nothing wrong, no setbacks. Just working their way back.”
Oshie has been ramping up his activity levels at recent practices, first getting back on the ice post-Christmas in a non-contact jersey. The next day he had already shed that non-contact jersey in favor of a regular practice sweater.
Most recently, he has been used as an extra during line rushes but it appears he took an extra step on Monday that indicates he could be in line to play as early as Tuesday against the Buffalo Sabres.
According to NBC Sports Washington’s Matt Weyrich, there were no set lines at the practice but Oshie did skate some with regular third-line forwards Marcus Johansson and Lars Eller. Oshie also took reps in his usual bumper position on the team’s first power-play unit.
“We’re going to go in and check,” Laviolette replied when asked if Oshie was a possibility against Buffalo. “We’ll probably have a better idea in the morning just seeing how he comes out of the skate today. If conversations go well, he’s probably a little bit ahead of others. If he was ready, we just wanted to get him the reps on the power play to make sure he was ready.”
The “others” that Laviolette refers to are mainly Tom Wilson and Nicklas Backstrom who are both awaiting their season debuts after undergoing respective surgical procedures this past summer. Both Wilson (ACL) and Backstrom (hip) skated on Monday but did not take part in any sort of power play work like Oshie did.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
