Backstrom, Wilson 'close' to making season debuts for Capitals
Forwards don't play against Predators, but Laviolette says they're not 'far off'
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Backstrom had resurfacing surgery on his left hip on June 17. Wilson had surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee on May 24.
"They're close, and they're close together," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said Wednesday. "They're out here and they're working hard every day. They're not coming with us on this road trip, but again, they're close, and I don't think they're far off of each other."
Backstrom would become the second NHL player to play after having hip resurfacing surgery, following Ed Jovanovski, who played 37 games with the Florida Panthers in 2013-14 after having the surgery in April 2013.
"I'm feeling great," Backstrom said. "Just fun being out there. We've been working hard the last couple of weeks. I feel good. … We've passed many things that I had to pass. Right now, it's all about repetition and skating and conditioning and stuff like that."
Backstrom said he is happy to be pain free again after dealing with an arthritic hip the previous two seasons. Backstrom had had surgery on his left hip in 2015 and hoped to avoid a second procedure after it began to bother him again late in the 2020-21 season.
Last season, the 35-year-old missed the first 28 games while rehabbing his hip. Although he was able to return to get 31 points (six goals, 25 assists) in 47 regular-season games and six points (two goals, four assists) in six Stanley Cup Playoff games, the pain Backstrom played through made it clear that he could not continue without having surgery again.
Still, Backstrom said he was confident he would play again even before deciding to have his hip resurfaced, which involves trimming and capping the femoral (thigh bone) head with a smooth metal covering, removing damaged bone and cartilage from the hip socket, and inserting a metal shell.
"I knew that day that I could return, when I talked to you guys (after last season)," Backstrom said. "But it was a little uncertain (when). It was more about when and how quickly I could recover."
Wilson had surgery to repair his ACL after he was injured in the first period of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Florida Panthers last season. The 28-year-old's recovery was projected to take 6-8 months.
"I'm feeling good," Wilson said. "The last couple weeks I've felt like myself, so it's just a matter of time. But I'm starting to feel a lot better and not worrying about it and not thinking about it as much. So it's good and kind of the last step of the process is just getting back to feeling like yourself and not worrying about the rehab process or anything like that and just playing hockey."
Wilson set NHL career highs in goals (24), assists (28), and points (52) in 78 games last season. He said he's determined to return to that level when he resumes playing.
"My expectation is that I have to be where I was before," Wilson said. "That's the only acceptable outcome. I want to be the player that I was before so this whole process. I've had that in mind and that's been my goal. Maybe I could've been back possibly a month ago, but I wouldn't have been the player I wanted to be. … This whole process has been designed with our support team and our medical staff and surgeon and everything to make sure that when I'm back, I'm the player I want to be.
"Obviously, there's going to be a couple games to get my feet under me, but just come back and do whatever I can to chip in and help the team keep moving forward and push towards the playoffs."
The Capitals (22-14-6) had their nine-game point streak end in a 3-2 loss to the Predators on Friday. They are 12-2-2 since Dec. 5, climbing into the first wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
"One way to look it is maybe when the team is playing this good, maybe that's going to benefit me," Backstrom said. "They are going help me out the first couple of games getting back. But at the same time, I'm not going to come in and change things up. I just got to try to be part of the team and win hockey games."
Washington will host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday. The Capitals then have two days off before a home-and-home series with the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 11 (at Philadelphia) and Jan. 14 (at Washington). Backstrom and Wilson could return during that timeframe, either separately or together.
Backstrom, who was unable to skate while he was in NHL COVID-19 protocol last week, has had some catching up to do with his conditioning this week but said that time off did not set him back too far. He knows it will be an adjustment jumping back into game action, though.
"The first game, whenever that is, it's a little bit of everything," he said. "Especially your eyes too. You're not used to [looking around]. And hands obviously too. We've been skating hard, so hopefully the lungs are there. It's just a reaction thing. Things out there, it's a little different from practice to games because out there in games you have to react to other players."
Backstrom is the Capitals' all-time assists leader with 747 and is second in their history in points (1,011), behind forward Alex Ovechkin (1,458).
