TJ Oshie discussed his uncertain playing status headed into next season during an Independence Day interview with NHL Network.
Oshie revealed that he would step away from the game if he couldn’t find “an answer and a fix” to his recurring back problems when the Capitals’ 2023-24 campaign ended. Nearly three months later, the veteran winger still seems just as unsure of where he stands.
Oshie’s broken hand, which he played a charity softball game with in June, is nearly healed, but his back issues remain just as much of a mystery as before.
“I’m feeling better for sure,” Oshie said. “The hand is getting there, which isn’t that big of a concern, but the back is kind of a different story. I’m still grinding away. I’m going to start really training here soon and it looks to be a matter of whether or not I can get my body healthy enough to compete when Training Camp rolls around.
“I’d obviously love to keep playing. I still enjoy coming to the rink every day. I feel like I still can hang in there with the young bucks out there. I hope to be back next season. If not though, super happy and proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish.”
Oshie and his medical team have continued to search for different or more creative treatment options, but they haven’t advanced much further than where he was at during the year, where at his worst, he was “literally on the floor peeing in water bottles.”
“I think right now still reaching out to a number of specialists just trying to figure out if there’s some type of intervention we can do surgically, if there’s a certain type of training, or maybe something that we haven’t thought of,” Oshie said. “The list is running out of things we’ve tried.”
Oshie has also reached out to his peers who have suffered through back issues.
“I’ve talked to a couple of NHL players either still playing and a couple that aren’t playing and dealt with similar things in their career,” Oshie said. “Exploring every option we can. I obviously love the game and can play through a lot of different types of pain, but back pain and not being able to stand is a little bit different. We’re working on it. We’ll keep grinding and hopefully we’ll find a solution.”
Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan has said the franchise will leave the final decision to TJ on whether he plays in 2024-25. “We’re going to support Osh in whatever way he chooses to go.”
But judging by their current roster, the Capitals appear to have already moved on. The team is currently $13.3 million over the salary cap. Nicklas Backstrom remaining on long-term injured reserve covers most of that space at $9.2 million while Oshie’s $5.75 million would cover the rest.
“It’s the beginning of the summer, so we’ll see how it plays out near the end of the summer,” MacLellan said.
Oshie has missed 92 games due to injury over the last three seasons, suiting up in 154 of 246 possible games. The constant coming in and out of the lineup has worn on him.
“I want to be able to come back and compete and not worry about injuring my back every four or five games,” Oshie said. “I think it’s also unfair to my teammates, coaching staff, everyone upstairs if I’m not reliable as a player and that’s something I’ve prided my game after, being very coachable and knowing what I’m supposed to do in every moment and being a player that my coaches and teammates can rely on. If you’ve got someone that’s a little iffy and isn’t 100 percent health-wise, you just don’t want to be that burden.
“Unfortunately, I’ve tried. I’m not able to change my game. I still love to go in there and make the big hits. The bigger the guy is that comes at me it seems like the more I want him to fall down. I tried to get that a little out of my game last year and it didn’t work as well as I had hoped.”
In the end, Oshie wants to be back but doesn’t want to suffer anymore.
“Just trying to get 100 percent healthy and prevent anything from happening in the future,” he said. “If I can get there, I’ll be back. If I can’t, we’ll look at the other options for sure.”
