Capitals forward Tom Wilson has been an integral piece of the team’s core for some time now since being drafted by the organization in 2012 and given his NHL debut shortly after. When he went down with a torn ACL in the Caps’ first-round playoff series against the Florida Panthers last May it was a devastating blow for the player and the team.
Wilson was amid the best season of his nine-year career at that point. He had recorded a personal best 52 points (24g, 28a) in 78 games and made his first-ever All-Star Game appearance.
With a return from offseason surgery to repair that torn ACL coming in the very near future, the 28-year-old winger says it’s most important for him to pick right up where he left off.
“The last couple of weeks I’ve felt myself,” Wilson started. “It’s just a matter of time. I’m starting to feel a lot better, not worrying about it and not thinking about it as much. It’s good. It’s kind of the last step of the process. Just getting back to feeling like yourself and not worrying about the rehab process.
“We’re going through that last stage now,” he continued. “Where I’m feeling good and I have no limits in practice or anything like that. Once I feel really, really good, we’ll be good to go.”
The rugged Toronto native took full contact in practice for the first time this season just before Christmas and has since been a regular at every skate the team has held at MedStar Capitals Iceplex. As of just last week, he was filling in as an extra forward during line rushes with TJ Oshie who was also injured at the time. Oshie has since made his return.
That indicates Wilson’s own return to game action is near. A return that Wilson hinted at maybe could have come a little earlier if the team had been more concerned with just wins and losses and not his full return to health.
“My expectation is that I have to be where I was before,” Wilson said. “That’s the only acceptable outcome. I want to be the player that I was before. This whole process I’ve had that in mind and that’s been my goal. Maybe I could’ve been back possibly a month ago, but I wouldn’t have been the player I wanted to be. I wouldn’t have been the player that I was last year.
“If the [team’s season] is not going well then there’s more conversations but if it’s going well then maybe you buy your teammates that are not playing a little bit of time,” he continued. “I don’t think there was too much of that. The team has been amazing with me. It wasn’t so much about what was going on in the standings. If they were pushing me and forcing me back it would have been a month ago, let’s do this. Everyone has been so great about allowing me to feel good about my return and that’s kind of been the only focus.”
Wilson spent the vast majority of his rehab process right alongside another key piece on the Capitals roster in Nicklas Backstrom. The two have, partly out of sheer necessity, been virtually inseparable in the gym, in the locker room when the rest of their teammates were on the road, and most importantly on the ice as they worked to get back into shape.
When asked if the two had become best friends, Wilson joked that Backstrom had given up Mike Green for him.
“No, I’m just kidding,” Wilson said, scared of the consequences of such words. “If Greenie heard that, he might be upset.”
Wilson then explained the nuance of his close relationship with Backstrom.
“We’ve always been close and he’s always been a mentor and a leader for me,” Wilson said. “We’re definitely spending a lot of time together. There’s not too many guys every day I come to the rink where I have to be good and I have to push myself because I feel like I owe that to him as a leader. He just has that demeanor about him. Everyone around him wants to be better. It’s great to bounce conversations off each other. The ups, downs, everything. We would’ve both rather not be in that situation, but I was fortunate to have him there.”
Backstrom spoke his own piece to the media on Wednesday. He also mentioned that having a training partner for his rehab process was a major positive.
“That helped a lot,” Backstrom said. “We knew from the start that we were going to [come back] around the same time. Having him around and working out together, skating together, it’s been great, actually. He’s motivated to get back out there too. Both of us have benefited from working out together.”
The dynamic duo won’t be on the Capitals’ upcoming road trip to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets. Head coach Peter Laviolette declared that news after Wednesday’s practice while also adding that both forwards are “close”. The earliest that the Caps could get their star forwards back after that would be on Friday when they host the Nashville Predators at Capital One Arena.
With the team making them both available press conference style to the wider media for the first time in a good while on Wednesday, those returns could very well be that close to happening.
Screenshot via @Capitals/Twitter
