The NHL season begins overseas next weekend, and the Capitals are about two weeks away from their Oct. 12 regular-season puck drop against Josh Harris’ Devils at Cap One Arena.
But on Friday, our old friend Tom Wilson popped by to say hello to the Junkies, and he’s already jazzed to get going even with a few preseason games (including one Friday night) still to come...perhaps because he’s spent this summer with his newest little buddy, baby Teddy?
“It’s been an amazing summer, obviously a full-time job with the little guy, but it's awesome. It's been pretty special,” Wilson told the guys. “There’s a bunch of new feelings, and adds some perspective. It’s pretty special to be able to welcome a son to the world. He's four months now and he's buzzing, so he's gonna be moving around in no time; I think he's gonna be a terror, that's for sure.”
Wilson joked that in Canada, once you’re two you’re ‘pretty much expected to get out onto the ice so we might get him some skates just to throw on the feet and get used to them,’ but it’ll be a while before he gets going in hockey.
Not so much for Wilson, who is down to just two other teammates – Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson – from the 2018 Cup team.
“It’s crazy how quick time flies. That was a heck of a run and that team was so close; I still stay in touch with pretty much all those guys,” Wilson said. “A lot of guys have gone on to have successful careers in other spots, but just having Johnny and O and myself…coming into training camp, there was a time where I sat on the bench looking around and it was a lot of new guys and I was like, man, I'm the odd man out here with all the new faces coming in! But it's really fun; we got a good veteran group, and I can be kind of the bridge to some of the amazing young players that are coming up, so it's a good time to be a Washington capital, but definitely miss all those guys and always fun to look back on the videos and the celebrations. It was a time of our life, and we gotta get back to making some noise and taking another run at it.”
It could’ve been four, but TJ Oshie is headed to long-term IR, and it looks like his Capitals career, if not his NHL career, could be over due to his back issues.
“He's the best, he’s like a brother. We got really close, and I’d do anything for his family, and I think he'd do the same for me. So it's cool when you have a bond like that,” Wilson said. “He’s a warrior, and when I say he tried everything and anything to overcome this injury, there's no place he'd rather be than at the rink with the boys playing hockey…he tried but it’s been a really tough injury for him. At the end of day, this part of his life, health is so important, and I'm glad he looked at himself and put his family first and his health first. He’s laid it all on the line and I think it's time right now just to take a step back; one thing I’ve learned with Osh is you never know, he could get suited up one day again, and I hope to one day play with him, but if not, it's been a heck of a run. He's a true warrior of the game.”
Take a listen to Wilson’s entire visit, which includes some thoughts on Ovechkin’s preseason, some of the newcomers in camp, and more, up above!