Sonny Milano won’t be back for the Washington Capitals anytime soon.
Chris Patrick, the team’s general manager, met with reporters at Capital One Arena for his annual post-trade deadline media availability and delivered an unfortunate update on the injured 28-year-old winger. Milano, who had just recently begun skating with the team again, has moved backwards in his recovery from an upper-body injury.
“He definitely had a setback, which is tough to see, because he’s been working so hard to come back,” Patrick said. “We see him on the ice, but even away from the ice, he’s putting in the time, and he really wanted to come back and be available for the playoffs.
“I think in pushing to do that, he had a fairly significant setback last week. So, it’s kind of back to the drawing board a little bit with him. He’s torn up about it, as are we, and we’ll just have to figure out next steps in the next couple days.”
Milano suffered the injury on November 6 in a game against the Nashville Predators and was subsequently moved to long-term injured reserve two weeks later. He has played in just three games for the Capitals this season after recording 23 points (15g, 8a) in 49 games with the club last season.
The first suggestion that something had gone awry came when Milano missed several skates this week despite previously looking like he was headed in the right direction. Head coach Spencer Carbery confirmed suspicions after the team’s morning skate on Friday.
“We’ll have an update on Sonny coming, I’m sure, pretty soon,” he said. “But him not skating has sort of changed what the progression would look like.”
Patrick had previously factored Milano into the Capitals’ plans for the final stretch of the season. The first-year GM then went out and got winger Anthony Beauvillier from the Pittsburgh Penguins ahead of Friday’s 3 pm trade deadline to restore the club’s forward depth.
“Once Anthony gets here we’ll be at 13, which is a good spot to be,” Patrick said. “We’ve got [Hendrix Lapierre] and [Ivan Miroshnichenko] down at Hershey who are playing well. Mike Sgarbossa as well. So, I’m not totally concerned on that front.”
Patrick also said that the team is factoring in top prospect Ryan Leonard as part of their depth. Leonard will be eligible to sign his entry-level contract with the Capitals in the spring once his sophomore season at Boston College is complete.
