It seems like almost every time the Capitals either get a player back or are about to, another player goes down. First it was Christian Djoos after Matt Niskanen just returned in November. Recently Andre Burakovsky returned to action last Friday against the Rangers. Four days prior to that return, T.J. Oshie left the Capitals game against the Sharks with an upper-body injury.  

Oshie got slammed into the boards by Joe Thornton late in the second period and as you can see in the video below, his face smashed hard into the boards. Not a pretty picture.

Oshie has missed the last three games and didn’t skate with the team through the end of the week. Instead, he did some off-ice work with trainers. Prior to Sunday’s practice, Oshie began skating on the Kettler ice once again. He didn’t travel with the team to New York but Capitals head coach Barry Trotz pointed out that he continued skating back in Arlington.

On Tuesday morning, the Capitals held an optional skate prior to their game against the Colorado Avalanche. Oshie came out prior to the skate to take a twirl around the ice, sporting a green jersey.

T.J. Oshie is the first player out on the ice before the #Caps optional skate. He’s taking a twirl before the rest of the players come out pic.twitter.com/YyPlEMunoP

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) December 12, 2017

Seven other players, excluding both goaltenders, came out on the ice for the optional skate and Oshie remained on the ice to partake in drills with them. Before the skate started, he was joined by Madison Bowey, Chandler Stephenson and Jakub Vrana.

Other players that came on early before the 11 am optional skate include Madison Bowey, Chandler Stephenson and both goalies pic.twitter.com/QjxXzTkY5Y

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) December 12, 2017

Oshie worked on some puck deflections.

Oshie deflections pic.twitter.com/eC9G6svBV5

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) December 12, 2017

Oshie fired the puck down-low alongside of the net.

Oshie would then take part in some 2-on-1 drills.

2-on-1’s pic.twitter.com/0PBjCpMS46

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) December 12, 2017

Oshie on the breakaway.

Oshie seemed like he was happy and excited to be back skating with some teammates. He gets fired up in this video. You can hear him go “WOO!” at the end.

Oshie is fired up… “WOO!” pic.twitter.com/FSChG2rXpJ

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) December 12, 2017

In this particular drill, Oshie was coming around the net shooting four pucks that were placed horizontally on both the left and the right face-off area.

The four puck-drill went from horizontal to vertical along both sides. By this time, Oshie was the only player on the ice with assistant coaches Todd Reirden and Blaine Forsythe looking on.

Before exiting the ice and calling it a day, Oshie skated around in circles.

Trotz isn’t going to address the media until 5 p.m. prior to tonight’s game but it is doubtful he will play tonight. With the Capitals scheduled off tomorrow, it is also highly unlikely that he will play on Thursday night in Boston. Oshie would need to participate in a full practice at least once or twice before being cleared to play. But as we saw this morning at Kettler, Oshie has made progress and is one step closer to coming back. Once he’s back, barring any setbacks from the next couple of games, this team will be fully healthy.

By Michael Marzzacco
Follow @marswaggo

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The Oshie's are in the November issue of @dcmagazine. #Capitals

A post shared by NoVa Caps (@nova_caps) on Oct 31, 2017 at 9:13am PDT