Carlson spent Friday night at a Washington-area hospital before being discharged Saturday. He is under the care of the Capitals' medical staff.
"I texted with him that night and I talked to him the next day," Washington coach Peter Laviolette said Tuesday. "He's doing good. He's out long-term right now and continuing to get looked at by the doctors."
Carlson was hit in the right side of his face with a slap shot by Jets defenseman Brenden Dillon 53 seconds into the third period. He immediately dropped to the ice and was bleeding before being helped to the locker room.
The NHL requires players placed on injured reserve to miss a minimum of seven days after the date he was injured. Laviolette said Carlson will be out longer than that.
"If it was seven days
is expected to take Carlson's place against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, MSG2, NBCSWA+, ESPN+, SN NOW). It'll be Alekseyev's first game since Dec. 9; he has one assist in five games.
Capitals forward Marcus Johansson will replace Carlson on the first power play-unit. Carlson had been playing down low in a forward position on the power play.
"He's an important guy," Laviolette said of Carlson. "With that, as it has been really all year, comes opportunity. Other guys will step up and that's how we've done it the entire year. We've needed guys to step up and fill shoes, fill minutes. It's not different here with John. Certainly an important player, but we talked about it this morning, our guys have to be ready for this challenge to get more, to do more and just keep things moving."
The Capitals already have been playing without defenseman Martin Fehervary (upper body), and forwards Nicklas Backstrom (hip), T.J. Oshie (upper body), Tom Wilson (ACL), Connor Brown (ACL), Carl Hagelin (hip) and
Beck Malenstyn
(upper body).
Malenstyn is with the Capitals in New York. Laviolette said other injured players were skating at their practice facility in Arlington, Virginia, on Tuesday.
"There are some guys that are on the cusp," Laviolette said.
NHL.com staff writer Tom Gulitti contributed to this report
