Mike Green’s injury status has been more of a mystery than anything of late in D.C. but there’s reason to be hopeful. Lost in the hoopla of Dale Hunter’s hiring and Bruce Boudreau’s firing yesterday, Green was back on the ice skating for the first time since he went out of action over two weeks ago with a strained groin.
As Katie Carrera of The Washington Post notes, Caps GM George McPhee isn’t putting any timetable on Green’s return to action, however.
Green’s absence since leaving a game against the Devils back on November 11 has been noticeable for the Caps as they’ve played listless hockey all during that time. Being without your top defenseman doesn’t help matters when you’re playing poorly, but obviously the Caps problems ran deeper than just missing Green. Still, getting a fully healthy Green makes the Caps a much better team and it helps get one of their weaker defensive links off the ice.
Sadly for the Caps, they’ve got a couple of them in Jeff Schultz and Roman Hamrlik. While Dmitry Orlov has spelled Schultz for a bit, Hamrlik’s poor play has been a huge letdown for Washington. Getting Green back will alleviate those issues but they’re not going to rush him.