The Washington Capitals announced the 72-man roster attending their 2024 Training Camp on Monday. Nicklas Backstrom and TJ Oshie were both included on the roster.
Both veteran forwards have unknown statuses heading into the 2024-25 campaign but are still under contract, so they remain on the training camp roster. Neither player is scheduled to speak with the media after the first official, non-testing day of camp, suggesting they are unlikely to skate.
Backstrom stepped away from the Capitals last November and spent the remainder of the season on long-term injured reserve due to lingering issues with his surgically repaired hip. Washington’s all-time leader in assists is presumed to have effectively retired from pro hockey.
The 36-year-old Swede has one year remaining on his contract with the Capitals, and former general manager Brian MacLellan previously stated that he believes Backstrom will spend the entirety of that final year on LTIR. “That’s what I would anticipate,” MacLellan said last May.
After missing the first half of the 2022-23 season after undergoing hip resurfacing surgery, Backstrom tried to make a comeback in 2023-24 but lasted just eight games before a slow start led head coach Spencer Carbery to remove him from the team’s first-unit power play and bump him down to the third-line center spot. The club legend announced his step back from the club shortly after.
Oshie is now in a similar position. For the past two seasons, he has dealt with recurring back issues that have kept him out of the team’s lineup for extended periods. The 37-year-old winger revealed last April that he would step away from the game if he couldn’t find “an answer and a fix” to his problems, and no concrete update has been provided on his prognosis this summer.
“It’s still kind of up in the air,” Capitals general manager Chris Patrick recently told NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. “I think training camp is kind of our timeline to see where he’s at.”
Oshie has missed 92 games due to injury over the last three seasons, suiting up in 154 of 246 possible games. One potential sign regarding Oshie’s status came when he returned to the golf course multiple times this summer. The veteran forward previously told Monumental Sports Network’s Tarik El-Bashir that he was giving up golf recreationally so that he could remain as healthy as possible for the rest of his hockey career.
The Capitals will need clarity on both players before the start of the season. Per PuckPedia, they are currently $10.27 million over the salary cap, with 22 out of 23 roster spots filled. Backstrom’s $9.2 million cap hit will cover most of that space, making an Oshie return possible if Patrick gets creative to free up an additional $1.07 million.
