Mike Green looks on during Caps practice Tuesday at Kettler. (Photo credit: Margaret McGuire)

Green practicing with his teammates. (Photo credit: @melly2508)

As the Washington Capitals continue to struggle under new coach Dale Hunter, Mike Green has become a beacon of hope for a Caps turnaround. For good reason. As you probably already know, the Capitals are 8-0 — un-frickin’-defeated — when Green has suited up this season.

On February 6, Green took a puck to the face in a game against the Penguins. 19 days later, in his first game back, the Rangers’ Derek Stepan elbowed Green in the head. This season, after notching four points against Detroit (tying his career high), Green missed the next six games due to a twisted ankle. In his first game back (detecting a pattern?), Green suffered his latest injury, a strained groin after taking a rough run from the Devils’ Ryan Carter. Since then, Green has missed 20 games and has not practiced with the team. Until now.

Tuesday, Green made his first steps towards a(nother) comeback, taking the ice for a full Caps-practice for the first time since November 11th.

While the 6’2”, 208-pound Calgary native may not be a Scott Stevens-style shutdown defenseman, his puck-moving skills, game-changing offense, and ability to eat up minutes is sorely missed on a back line consisting of inexperienced young players and overworked veterans. Dennis Wideman has been averaging 25:20 minutes of ice time with Hunter behind the bench. Wideman has had brilliant games this season — the almost-hat trick game against Toronto springs to mind — and then he’s had his stinkers — like the entire month of November, where he was a team worst minus-13 (probably the worst stretch of his NHL career).

After enduring several frustrating setbacks over the last month and a half, the Washington Post’s Katie Carrera reported that Green flew to Minnesota two weeks ago to receive an experimental Accelerated Recovery Performance (ARP) treatment, which involved electrical stimulation to his injured groin. The treatment must have helped, because Green skated hard with his teammates for nearly an hour or so today and also took his turns at the point on the power play.

What’s yet to be seen is what type of player Mike will be when he finally returns to game action. After missing 53 of the Capitals last 63 games due to injury, will Green still be the same elite defenseman who’s been nominated twice for a Norris trophy? Or will the former young gun be more of a complementary piece of the puzzle as he enters restricted free agency this summer? Green spoke candidly for several minutes to the local media Tuesday after practice. And while seeing him fully participate was encouraging, some of his answers (“I don’t think I’ll be 100 percent for a long time” and “I think I’m going to have to be cognizant of this [injury] for the rest of my career”) were a bit disconcerting.

How did practice go today?

It went good. Yeah. I was able to skate with the team and I’m making a lot of progress here. I’m still day-to-day. Nothing’s changed as far as the plan from before, but the good thing is I’m back on the ice and feeling good.

How does a long absence due to injury compare to training camp?

That’s the thing. I’ve been training hard off the ice — doing everything I can to stay in shape — but until you get back on the ice and are skating, it’s hard to train for hockey. But I feel as good as I possibly could feel going back on the ice today. I just need a few skates to get my lungs and my legs back and I’ll be back in no time. So we’ll see.

George McPhee said you plateaued a few weeks ago. Do you feel like you’re significantly getting better now?

Yeah. It’s just one of those things where time heals all. The degree of injury I had, this is the timeframe that you plan to come back. As much as I tried to get myself back quicker, it’s just a matter of time and you have to let it heal.

Mentally is your outlook better now that you re-joined your teammates.

Yes! I could not wait to get back on the ice and skate with the guys. It’s been tough watching hockey and not being a part of it. So for me to get back out there and be apart of this, I smiled a little bit. I think I had a smile on my face the entire time I was out there. It feels good. You don’t realize how much you miss it until you’re gone for awhile.

Are you still rehabbing?

I think I’m going to have to be cognizant of this for the rest of my career, probably. This is something that you’ve got to take care of – especially with hockey it’s such a common thing. It’s just maintenance right now. Making sure that I’m on top of my stuff and I’m getting better. I don’t think I’ll be 100 percent for a long time, but just got to get to that stage where I can play.

You haven’t played for Dale yet. What’s it been like watching his system from upstairs?

Yeah. It’s a great system, it’s just that we’ve got to buy in here. It’s taken some adjustment. We’re coming along. As players, we need to pick it up. We haven’t been that good lately. It comes down to the simple things and playing smart hockey. You have a system in place but you have to play hard and make sure you’re doing the right things. I’ve enjoyed being around Dale here. I recently was just able to talk to him. I’ve been out and haven’t seen him much. But he’s a great guy, a very easy coach to deal with. You know exactly what you’re going to get from him. He’s an honest coach.

Do you know when you’ll be able to return?

I don’t know. I wish I could give you an answer, but I don’t know.

Will you have to alter your stride or something with this injury?

Yeah, right now until I get back to as good as possible. I think it’s just more of a mind thing. Your body — the way it reacts — it doesn’t function the same way. This was my first skate with the team and I went as hard as I could. I think as I go on here, I’ll get that functioning back. It just takes time.

Reports everywhere say that Varly will not sign with the Capitals and will play instead in the KHL next season.

This whole thing could’ve been avoided if only we had learned…

After the jump, some RMNB memories of Varly.

• Varly in an oil painting, receiving the silver cup from a dwarf
• Varly with a near-shut-out in his final game as a Capital
• 5-year-old tricks Varly out of his pads, scores
• After much consternation, Neil Greenberg resolves firmly for #TeamVarly (after this one, and this one, and many more)
• Late night filings
• Varly shuts down the Canadiens
• Varly’s goalie mask, now collecting dust
• Rehabbing in Hershey again
• In hindsight, Varly might not have written this blog at all
• Varly’s awesome Caps Con promo
• The single greatest Semyon Varlamov illustration ever created by man on earth ever
• How to pronounce “Semyon” according to Fedor
• Aaaaand finally… “Groin is good.”

If the rumors are true, we must all wish Semyon Varlamov the best in his future endeavors. This is a profoundly stupid career move for him and a distinct failure by the Capitals organization, so let’s hope our good tidings alone are enough to numb the sting.

Photo credit: Mitchell Layton

In his first game back since January 8th, Alex Semin led the Capitals with four shots on goal in 17:47 of ice time. After a 12 game layoff that stretched over 26 days, Sasha Minor looked rusty and missed on several golden opportunities. The Capitals fell to the Sharks 2-0, and endured their eighth shutout of the season.

After the game, SovSport’s Pavel Lysenkov caught up with Semin and asked him how he felt in his return, his thoughts on Bruce Boudreau’s trap, and what it’d mean to him to open next season in Russia. RMNB’s Igor Kleyner has your translation below the jump.

I GOT INJURED IN DECEMBER

Semin played on the second line with Brooks Laich and Mathieu Perreault. Alex was so upset by the loss, it took some persuading to get an interview. “We have waited for a month for your groin injury to heal!”

“It’s kind of hard at first,” admitted Semin. “But I played out the game without any pain.”

Pavel Lysenkov – Do you remember how you got injured?

Alex Semin – No. it happened a long time ago, in December.

PL – Did you play on with injections?

AS – Why would I? This is not the playoffs. I played through the pain. When I couldn’t tolerate it anymore, I went to the doctors.

PL – Evgeni Malkin just came back after his injury, and went down again. Did Washington push you to return to the ice?

AS – Not at all. I finished my treatment and returned to the lineup.

PL – The team is playing more defensive hockey now. Does this style fit you?

AS – The coach chooses the tactics. I haven’t changed my game. You simply have to execute your assignment. But you do what you want in around the opponents’ goal.

PL – Washington has tightened the neutral zone coverage…

AS – That is one of the coaches’ ideas.

PL – Was the game against the Sharks playoff-like?

AS – No. We just did not score. Their goalie had a good game. What kind of tactics is it if we end up losing 2-0? We need to do something differently. We relaxed in the third period, and the game got away…

PL – Is the team talking about the need to overtake Tampa?

AS – I have not heard anything like that. We need to win every game. And not think about who we’ll get in the playoffs. And what’s the difference anyway?

BETTER TIMES ARE COMING

PL – It appears Washington is simply lacking emotions this season.

AS – We used to win a lot of games. For whatever reason, it’s not happening this year. We need to find ourselves and play like we can.

PL – You beat Tampa 5-2 a few days ago…

AS – That’s what I am talking about. Or the game against Pittsburgh: 3-0.

PL – Are you sick of the press-box? You sat up there while injured.

AS – Oh, totally. I even wanted to stop coming to the games. I was fed up with watching hockey from the sidelines. I wanted to go on the ice. But you can’t rush.

PL – Earlier this season, when everything was going wrong for him, Kovalchuk said, “Maybe someone put a spell on me.” Are you superstitious?

AS – To each his own. Yes, I do believe in such things. But I don’t know why anybody would put a curse on me. Who would want to do that?

PL – It seems the whole Russian Olympic team has been cursed.

AS – Things happen. We are all going through a dark period. But it will get better. You can’t get hung up on that.

PL – Do the words of the NHL commissioner Gary Bettman bother you? He doesn’t want to send his teams to Siberia.

AS – But he has never been there. It’s a longer flight from here to Los Angeles than from Moscow to Novosibirsk. It’s only four hours to my hometown Krasnoyarsk…

PL – Would you like to go there with Washington?

AS – From what I have read, we are opening our regular season in Peter [Saint Petersburg] against Buffalo. But I did not hear anything about playing against the KHL teams. We’ll play if we need to. And we will not be taking it easy. If you relax, it’s easy to get seriously injured.

PL – Ovechkin said: if the Capitals get to play at Khodynka, a half of Krasnoyarsk will gather there.

AS – There will be a lot of people supporting me. Although nobody has asked for a ticket yet. It’s still too early.

Additional reporting by Ian Oland.