Washington Capitals: T.J. Oshie finally returns to the ice
Summer is a time to heal and recharge for the 82-grind ahead. For Washington Capitals right winger T.J. Oshie, he showed progress from an injury in the playoffs that ended his season.
On Tuesday morning a T.J. Oshie interview article with The Athletic’s (subscription required) Washington Capitals insider Tarik El-Bashir was published. Within it, El-Bashir noted from Oshie himself that he was going to resume skating this week as early as Tuesday. Sure enough, there he was on the ice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex, the team’s training facility in Arlington, VA.
The Washington Capitals and El-Bashir each tweeted out videos of Oshie skating with John Carlson and Lars Eller, each taking part in some summer training sessions. Oshie’s road back to the ice was a long one. An injury suffered in Game 4 to his collarbone, ended his season and the Capitals couldn’t recover. From a 2-1 series lead to dropping three of their next four.
Oshie’s injury came with a check near the boards by Warren Foegele late in the third period. He needed surgery three days later. Now he’s ready to begin the next step to getting 100% healthy in time for training camp. Oshie told El-Bashir of The Athletic (subscription required):
"“I’m good to go. If there’s anything, I get a little sore in the morning. But I’m good. I’ve been doing full workouts now for a couple of weeks. I’ll be ready to go.”"
Oshie additionally noted in the article that he’s focusing on more skating rather than shooting but could shoot the puck if he wanted to. Oshie, Eller, and Carlson each held hockey sticks but there weren’t any shooting. Just some regular speed drills as shown in the video below, tweeted out by the Capitals official account.
Little afternoon twirl for the boys @TJOshie77 @lellerofficial @JohnCarlson74 pic.twitter.com/1n3SMTVEUy
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) July 23, 2019
Fans that attend Capitals games may spot Oshie at the end of warmups jumping into the tunnel through a crowd of high-fiving fans. And yes, it’s quite a long jump. If anybody is concerned about Oshie’s hops since that injury, they can be rest assured he can still jump. Heck even on one foot and switch to the other (via El-Bashir).
Just T.J. Oshie, John Carlson and Lars Eller hopping over hurdles under the watchful eye of Coach Wendy Marco from @ColdRushHockey. #Caps pic.twitter.com/87014YjiM7
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) July 23, 2019
dark. Next. 2019 expectations for Shane Gersich
It looks like signs are pointing towards Oshie being ready for opening night in St. Louis and there’s still plenty off offseason and summer conditioning ahead. Oshie will be important for a strong second line that just locked in Jakub Vrana for the next two seasons as well as a penalty kill in dire need of improvement.