Amidst the Capitals’ rash of injuries this season, it would be easy to forget about Carl Hagelin, who has been out of the lineup for over a full year. He suffered a truly frightening injury during a March of 2022 practice that nearly required doctors to remove his left eye. Just as it looked like he could return, he instead went back under the knife, undergoing both arthroscopic and hip resurfacing surgery this season.

At the Capitals’ Breakdown Day on Saturday, he gave more details on recovery from the grisly eye injury, deciding on hip resurfacing, and staying positive through a four-surgery year.

“My pupil is never dilating because it’s stuck,” he explained. “Because they had to restitch the pupil.”

At last season’s Breakdown Day, Hagelin revealed that he nearly lost the eye and will never recover full vision. He credits his medical team for the progress he’s been able to make.

“I think during the (2022) playoffs they let me skate a little bit,” he said. “At that point depth perception was definitely a big deal. You’d miss pucks or they’d feel like they’re coming slow and then it would come really fast.

“But over the year I’ve worked with Dr. Smithson who’s a brain/eye doctor up in Reston who works with pitchers for the Nats and other stuff to kind of re-calibrate my brain with the eyes so the right eye does what it needs to do to help the left eye and then kind of figure out how to make the left eye as perfect as possible. Think it’s gotten a lot better and I feel pretty confident.”

Hagelin argued that, were it not for his hip, his eye had improved enough that he could have returned to play.

“Well, I mean the team hasn’t cleared me yet,” he said. “I don’t think they’ve had to clear me yet since I haven’t been on the ice, obviously. But, you know, my doctor liked the progress of what’s happened and I like what’s happened. That was kind of the reason I was on the ice before camp even though the hip was hurting a lot. I wanted to see what it was like to be around guys. That was encouraging to me. So we kind of see where it goes.”

If he returns to play, he’ll do so with a tinted visor to accommodate his eye.

“I still get glare in my eye if I don’t have sunglasses. So like now, looking at these lights, it kind of messes the eye up a little bit, but with a tinted visor it actually feels a lot better.”

No one would fault Hagelin if he decided to call it quits. The 34-year-old has had an 11-year NHL career with two Stanley Cups under his belt. With partial vision and a reconstructed hip, his odds of returning to form are slim. Still, he refuses to give up. In the eight months since his last surgery, Hagelin has skated only once, when he was in the team photo in early April. He’s seen improvement, but he’s far from ready.

“My goal is to play again,” he said. “My hip needs to feel good, though, to do it. And it kind of comes back to that of, I need to get at least two and a half really good months on the ice skating and that would be, you know, late August and at that point if it feels good I want to play in the NHL again.”

For comparison, teammate Nicklas Backstrom returned to play about six months after undergoing hip resurfacing surgery himself. However, Backstrom’s return has been somewhat underwhelming. General manager Brian MacLellan noted that Backstrom will “have to make a decision on his career.”

Hagelin explained that he knew he would need hip resurfacing but had hoped the arthroscopic procedure could delay the inevitable. He decided to undergo the procedure in February

“If it wasn’t feeling good at a certain point, I needed to get the resurfacing done in early February to have a long enough rehab to be good to go next year if everything goes well. So I think that was kind of, we always knew the resurfacing was going to happen, whether that was in a year or two years or right now.”

He later noted, “the hip is something that’s been there for quite some time, the pain. It just got to a point where it had to be done because it felt like every stride I took there for the last couple years felt like I had a knife going into my groin. It was hard to play the game I wanted to play.”

Hip resurfacing remains a risky surgery for professional athletes. Most do not return, and Backstrom unfortunately demonstrates that they don’t always come back much stronger. That’s not to mention the risks that any invasive surgery carries. Still, Hagelin wasn’t afraid of the procedure.

“I think after the eye injury, you’re not going to get more scared than you are that day. Just the fact that I was able to see with this eye was for me, a positive, you know? And everything’s been better than expected so, hip resurfacing or even the first surgery didn’t really bother me.”

Despite the setbacks, Hagelin has remained an uplifting presence in the team’s locker room. “I’ve always been, you know, positive and kind of see the bright side of things,” he said.

Nic Dowd complimented Hagelin’s perspective in his own Breakdown Day interview.

“He’s been a guy that, when I come back from a long road trip and I see for the first time in the weight room or the changing room I’m excited to see him,” Dowd said. I would say with him not traveling on trips and him only being in the locker rooms when we’re at home, he’s actually been a really key part of keeping the guys’ moods pretty even-keel and positive.”

For better or worse, Hagelin was in good company this season. He spent plenty of time with the Capitals’ fellow injured players as they came in and out of the lineup.

“The good thing and the bad throughout the year is that other guys have been hurt,” he said, “and that helps to keep the move up, company the whole time, you know. First Backy and Willy and then Brownie and then Johnny for a while and then a couple guys sprinkled in, Osh. Obviously feel for them, but it’s been good mentally.”

He admitted that it was difficult to spend so long out of the lineup, especially while his team floundered.

“I think it’s tough,” he said. “I love the game. I love watching the game, and obviously it’s tough for me too, not to be out there. But when you’re out for a year then you kind of, it doesn’t take as much of a toll on you, I guess.”

Backstrom proved a particular help to Hagelin in dealing with his hip. The two swapped stories even earlier when they both struggled with hip pain in 2020.

“My hips start hurting a lot during the bubble. That’s the first time I started hurting and happening. And Backy kind of had his issue during the exact same time, so we went back and forth a lot. It was interesting to listen to.”

He cited Backstrom, alongside other athletes who had hip resurfacing surgery, as signals of a growing trend towards returning to play.

“I think players are ready and athletes are ready to put in the time, nowadays, to really get back,” he said. “I think it’s more that, you’re at a point in your life when you’re older, so some people just say ‘hey, it’s time to give up at this point,’ but obviously Backy’s a great example.”

Hagelin will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. Even if he feels well enough to play, he’ll likely face an uphill battle to find a team willing to sign him after several serious injuries and a long stretch away from the game. If he can’t find an NHL contract, he may consider joining an SHL team in his home country of Sweden.

“When I’m feeling on the ice that I can skate the way I want to skate, then, you know, I’ll sit down with my agent and kind of see what the options are,” he said of a potential new contract.

Though he didn’t mention if he would attempt to remain in Washington, he was grateful for all the team had done for him.

“They’ve been great. They’ve put me with the right people. You know, both my hip surgeries were the top surgeons in the US…We’ve had good discussions and, you know, I only have good things to say about the Caps.”

Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB