Capitals Provide Update On John Carlson, ‘Set Timeframe’ On Return

The Washington Capitals have been feeling John Carlson's absence over these last few months as he recovers from a major face/head injury, and they will have more clarity on his status in the coming weeks.

General manager Brian MacLellan said on Friday that Carlson has a "set timeframe," and there will be a more serious evaluation about when he can return at the end of March. He has not played since Dec. 23 when he was hit in the face with a Brenden Dillon slapshot.

The standings will also have no impact on whether or not he plays again this season, but it will depend on how Carlson is feeling himself.

"It's going to be on him, how he's progressing, how he feels, and we'll kind of make a decision with him and our staff, the medical staff and trainers," MacLellan said.

Carlson has been getting in individual work on his own and recently started skating in full gear with coach Wendy Marco. He has yet to practice with the team.

Through 30 games this season, Carlson has eight goals and 13 assists. After his absence, the team's consistency took a significant drop off, and the likes of Trevor van Riemsdyk and more had to step up. And with Dmitry Orlov and Erik Gustafsson traded, the team is now looking to Rasmus Sandin and more to step up and help fill that void with 19 games left.

"John went down, and that's where I think our inconsistency started," MacLellan noted. "It's hard to replace a guy like him. We bumped guys up in the lineup, increased their minutes, which most of them handled well. But it's still not the same as having John in there playing both power play and penalty kill. So I do think it had a big effect on the results from the end of December on, contributed to what I would call inconsistencies."