Breaking down the unfortunate eye injury news to Carl Hagelin

We knew this news was coming but it didn’t make it any better when the Washington Capitals announced the obvious that Carl Hagelin would be out indefinitely. He will still get help from the teams medical staff and get checked in regularly.

Hagelin underwent surgery on his left eye. He remains under the care of the medical team and will have additional follow up evaluations. He was poked in the eye by a stick at the very end of practice on Tuesday.

Getting called up in his place on the fourth line is Axel Jonsson-Fjallby. Despite all the criticism Hagelin had the last two seasons I liked him on the penalty kill. And he was alright offensively when he scored. And he helped generate chances on one of the most successful lines on the Capitals in the fourth line with Nic Dowd and Garnet Hathaway.

In 53 games, Hagelin had three goals and 11 assists for 14 points with a plus minus of plus 10 while averaging 14:14 minutes of ice time. He had three assists in his last five games and begun to play better offensively.

Hagelin’s advanced stats weren’t too shabby either as indicated by Natural Stat Trick. His Corsi For percentage finished out at 51.70 percent, his Expected Goals For percentage came out at 50.09 percent, but his High Danger Chances For percentage was 47.06 percent.

Since the start of 2022 Hagelin’s Corsi For percentage was 51.70 percent, his Expected Goals For percentage at 50.02 percent, and High Danger Chances For around 47 percent.

The fourth line of Hagelin, Dowd and Hathaway spent 344:28 on the ice together. Their combined Corsi For percentage was 53.66 percent, Expected Goals For percentage at 51.86 percent, and a High Danger Chances For percentage of 54.29 percent.

All of us at Stars and Sticks would like to wish Hagelin a speedy recovery and the best of luck for whatever lies next.