Baggie Day Buzz: Sandin to miss start of next season for Capitals

For 16 NHL teams, there are no Stanley Cup Playoffs. Instead, players are packing up their gear, reflecting on the season and looking toward the future, as well as front office members analyzing what went wrong.

Baggie Day Buzz is your one-stop shop for the latest news and analysis from the teams that missed the playoffs.

Here is the most recent news:

Washington Capitals

Rasmus Sandin will miss the start of next season while recovering from a right knee injury, Capitals general manager Chris Patrick said Monday. 

The defenseman was injured in a collision with Pittsburgh Penguins forward Justin Brazeau in the third period on April 11 and missed Washington’s final two games. 

“There'll be more of an update later this week, but he's going to miss a decent amount of time,” Patrick said. “It'll factor into our offseason.”

Sandin had 29 points (five goals, 24 assists) in 73 games and averaged 19:12 of ice time.

Pierre-Luc Dubois fractured his right hand crashing into the end boards in the same game. Patrick said Dubois, a center, won’t need surgery and there were “no huge concerns” about his recovery and being ready for next season. 

“It’ll be a few weeks and he’ll be back,” Patrick said.

The Capitals (43-30-9) finished three points behind the Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers in the Metropolitan Division, and four back of the Ottawa Senators for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.

Winnipeg Jets

Jonathan Toews said he’s still considering whether he will return for a 17th NHL season.

After two seasons away due to health complications, the forward, who will turn 38 on April 29, played all 82 regular-season games for the Jets, the first time he has done so since 2018-19 with the Chicago Blackhawks.

“Probably in the next couple of weeks to a month, when you start getting back into it to prepare for next season, obviously I've got a lot to think about, Toews said Friday. “When you're chasing a playoff spot and you're playing every other day, it's been so crazy since the Olympic break, you don't have much time to think about much else. It’s all you really have time and energy for, so it would be nice to have some space to sink into that thought process and think about next steps.”

Toews, who won the Stanley Cup three times with Chicago (2010, 2013, 2015), signed a one-year contract to play in his hometown of Winnipeg on July 2, 2025; the Blackhawks chose not to re-sign him after he was limited to 124 games due to Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome that kept him out of the entire 2020-21 season and from Feb. 21-April 1, 2023, when he was dealing with the effects of long COVID-19.

He had 29 points (11 goals, 18 assists) this season for the Jets (35-35-12), who finished eight points out of a playoff spot.

“I think if I'm being honest with myself and I look back to a couple years ago where I was at, yeah, it definitely feels like a huge accomplishment,” Toews said. “I'm very proud that I went after it and did what I could to get back to this level and to play in the NHL again."

Calgary Flames

Jonathan Huberdeau said he expects to be healthy for training camp after having season-ending hip surgery in March that caused the 32-year-old forward to miss the Flames' final 26 games.

“That was probably one of the main reasons I kind of wanted to do it earlier, so I could be fully back next year,” Huberdeau said Friday, one day after Calgary wrapped up its season with a 3-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings. “I feel pretty good. It’s been six weeks, so I think I’m just looking forward to getting back on the ice. It’s been going pretty well right now, so hopefully it keeps keep going like that and I can be back on the ice in late June.”

Huberdeau, who was acquired in a trade with the Florida Panthers for forward Matthew Tkachuk on July 22, 2022, had 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists) in 50 games this season after he had 62 points (28 goals, 34 assists) in 81 games in 2024-25.

The Flames (34-39-9) finished 13 points out of a playoff spot.