The Washington Capitals have a few injury worries over the summer, but perhaps the biggest is defenseman Rasmus Sandin.
Sandin revealed at Thursday’s Breakdown Day that he suffered a potentially significant knee injury against the Pittsburgh Penguins last week. The 26-year-old Swede didn’t have the full details on how serious the injury is yet, but was wearing a brace as he spoke at the podium.
“We’ll see, we’re still waiting for some final results on it,” Sandin said. “Obviously, it’s an injury to it, but how bad it is, we’re still waiting on the final results here, hopefully as soon as possible.”
When prodded for further details, Sandin indicated he believed his summer would be occupied by an extensive healing and recovery process. The Uppsala, Sweden native typically returns to his homeland during the offseason, where he trains with other Swedish players like William and Alex Nylander.
“Yeah, I think it’ll be quite a bit of rehab over the summer,” Sandin said. “But how bad and where we will go from here, hopefully I’ll find out here in the next hours, I want to say.”
Sandin suffered the injury in the third period of Washington’s 6-3 win over the Penguins on April 11. As Sandin tried to make his way through a faceoff scrum, he was clipped by a hip check from Penguins forward Justin Brazeau. He then immediately crumpled to the ice and began writhing in pain as he grabbed at the back of his right leg.
The Capitals played two more games after that, with Sandin sitting out of both of them. He also did not join his teammates for their morning skate this past Tuesday in Columbus.
“Yeah, I mean, I think every team wants to set screens and some picks and create time for your teammates,” Sandin said. “It was just an unlucky play with how my skate kind of got stuck in the ice. Had pretty much all my weight on that leg. If I could just shift a little bit of my weight to my other leg, I don’t think anything would have happened. Honestly, I haven’t really checked the play after. You’re just kind of pissed it happened.”
Sandin’s unfortunate end to the campaign came just as he had begun to settle into a bigger role with the Capitals. After John Carlson was dealt at the trade deadline, Sandin earned a promotion to the team’s top pairing, where he played on his off-hand side with Martin Fehervary.
“In the beginning of the year, I thought I didn’t play to my full potential and how good I can play,” Sandin said. “I think I stepped it up, especially in the second half of the year. I think I played some good hockey. Obviously, with John being out, got a little bit of a bigger role. I got the chance to play with Marty. It was a lot of fun. I felt comfortable playing on the right side.
“Again, when you play with Marty, you feel pretty comfortable out there with how he defends and skates and how he plays. Overall, I think it was a decent year for me. I think I grew as a person, especially off the ice. I think I could speak up a little bit more, feeling even more comfortable than the previous year. So, still some improvement to be done over the summer.”
Sandin’s growth as a player became even more important after Carlson and Nic Dowd’s departure, which is something Connor McMichael, in particular, brought up in his own media availability on Thursday.
“I saw a lot out of Sandy,” McMichael said. “I think Sandy played really well down the stretch. He was one of our better defensemen every single game. I don’t think I really remember a game where Sandy was off. He was doing all the little things as well, blocking shots, breaking pucks out.
“I was really happy for Sandy, seeing that step up into a bigger role. Unfortunately, he got hurt there, but I’m really excited to see what Sandy can do in a bigger role. I thought he looked really good there towards the end.”
The 2025-26 campaign was the second year of Sandin’s five-year deal with the Capitals. He finished the season playing in 73 games, recording 29 points (5g, 24a) and averaging 19:12 of time on ice per game.
