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Capitals Notebook: Lindgren, Hagelin & More Updates From Informal Skate

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Capitals informal skate

ARLINGTON, V.A. — John Carlson skates up behind Carl Hagelin, grabbing his longtime teammate in a bear hug as the Washington Capitals take a breather during their informal skate on Thursday.

The skate spanned a few hours, with some of the players kicking things off with skating coach Wendy Marco. After that, players came on for a couple of drills, followed by a scrimmage.

This was by far the most well-attended skate yet. Charlie Lindgren officially took the ice for the first time in D.C., joining Carlson, Hagelin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov, T.J. Oshie, Dylan Strome, Connor Brown, Anthony Mantha, Nic Dowd, Garnet Hathaway, Nick Jensen, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Aliaksei Protas, Joe Snively and Marcus Johansson.

Several prospects, including Bear Hughes, Henrik Rybinski, Mitchell Gibson and more took part in the skate as well. Free agent Peter Laviolette III, Hershey Bears signee Sam Anas, former Washington forward Brett Connolly and DMV native Patrick Chiles also practiced with the team. Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, who flew back from Russia on Wednesday according to his agent, was not present on Thursday.

The most notable update, however, was that Hagelin was a full-go at the skate. The 34-year-old was not in a powder blue no-contact jersey and was quite physical, throwing some hits and going hard in the full-ice scrimmage. He got some good looks and scoring changes and was all smiles. Despite being out of the non-contact sweater, he is still wearing an oversized, tinted aviator visor following his devastating injury to his eye last year.

READ MORE ON WHN: Latest On Carl Hagelin As He Takes Step Forward For Washington Capitals

Hagelin is working his way back from a ruptured choroid in his left eye. At a March 1 practice, the Swede took a stick up high that went under his tilted visor and through his eye. After surgeries and eye training, he is back on the ice and determined to skate in the NHL again. However, it won’t be easy, as he has to compensate with his other eye and accommodate without full vision. He also must work to get his depth perception back.

Some more takeaways:

  • Lindgren was wearing his St. Louis Blues pads, but had his brand new Washington mask and had a red, white and blue blocker that he was breaking in. Though halfway through, he changed back into his Blues blocker.
  • Hathaway stayed on the ice after Marco’s group session to get some individual pointers and work with the longtime skating coach.
  • Strome has some good moves out there. Fans should be excited to see him in action in 2022-23.
  • Hendrix Lapierre and Vincent Iorio, who have been regulars on the ice, weren’t in attendance on Thursday.