Capitals winger suffers an eye injury at practice and will miss significant time

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Mike Armenti
March 2, 2022 (3:26 PM)

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Suffering any type of an injury in practice is always unfortunate. Suffering a significant injury at practice that takes a player out of commission for an extended period of time is undeniably worse. Unfortunately for the Washington Capitals, that's exactly what happened with one of their wingers.

During Tuesday's practice, speedy winger Carl Hagelin took a nasty high stick from a teammate, which caught him in the eye. A scary incident to say the least and the 33-year-old needed to be helped off the ice by a trainer, with a towel pressing down on the injured eye.

The team confirmed on Wednesday that Hagelin will miss significant time. Head coach Peter Laviolette leans on the veteran forward in a lot of key situations and views the loss as an impactful one for the Caps. Here's what Laviolette had to say:

"I think any time you have an eye injury, there's a concern. First and foremost there's a concern for him and just his well-being. It's unfortunate when something like that happens. And then secondly with regard to our team, he's certainly a player that we're going to miss. He's counted on for a lot of different roles."

Hagelin has appeared in 53 games for Washington this season, registering 14 points, a +10 rating and is one of the team's top penalty killers. A loss like that on special teams is certain to be one that the Caps will notice. He's also one of the fastest skaters in the league, for what that's worth. Laviolette is certainly feeling the loss:

"I think he's one of the top penalty killers in the league. And so when you take a piece like that out of your lineup, you're going to feel it and somebody else is going to have to step up."

The 713-game NHL veteran has played 11 seasons split between the Rangers, Ducks, Penguins and Kings, with his last four consecutive seasons coming in Washington.

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