Carl Hagelin out indefinitely after eye surgery

Capitals General Manager Brian MacLellan announced Wednesday afternoon forward Carl Hagelin has had eye surgery and will be out indefinitely.

MacLellan called the injury “serious” and says Hagelin is meeting with another doctor today to discuss next steps.

Hagelin was injured in the very last drill of Tuesday’s practice. NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti said at the time of the event that the Swedish striker ‘had a towel pressed to the area around his eyes’ and that there was ‘complete silence among his teammates’ after it happened.

“It’s a serious eye injury,” MacLellan said. “I don’t think we know the full extent of it yet. He has an appointment this afternoon with another ophthalmologist. She had surgery last night. It remains to be determined what the next steps are for him.

“The vision part is the biggest concern,” added MacLellan. “I think we were really worried last night. I don’t know, it’s rather good news that the review went in the right direction. But it remains to be determined what the next steps are and what effect it will have on him.

Without Hagelin, the Caps will have to find a solution on their fourth line which is clearly their best attacking trio since the start of 2022.

Caps skaters statistics on ice since the new year, from @NatStatTrickclassified by objectives for %. pic.twitter.com/DdwUWChCEO

— Good Tweet Pete 🌮 (@peterhassett) March 1, 2022

“Obviously he’s a big part of our PK,” MacLellan said. “He’s our best PK guy. He is one of the best PK’ers in the league. That fourth line has been phenomenal for us the past two years and a big part of that. They play against the best lines. They start on our side and they do a good job. So we will miss him. »

After a less than spectacular start to the season offensively, Hagelin had seven points in February, which saw him tied with Evgeny Kuznetsov for the team lead in points among forwards.

The eye injuries are very scary, so we wish Carl the best as he recovers.

March 6 update: The Capitals have officially announced Carl Hagelin’s left eye surgery.

Washington Capitals forward Carl Hagelin has had left eye surgery and will be out indefinitely. Hagelin remains in the care of the Capitals medical team and will have additional follow-up evaluations.

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) March 6, 2022

Main photo: Elizabeth Kong/MRNB