Washington Capitals Lose Top-Six Forward

The Washington Capitals will be without forward T.J. Oshie, as the 34-year-old has entered the NHL's COVID-19 protocol. As a result of this, he will not be playing in Sunday night's game against the Los Angeles Kings.

#Caps forward TJ Oshie is unavailable due to the NHL's COVID-19 protocol.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) December 19, 2021

Oshie is now the fourth player on the Capitals out from the illness. Nicklas Backstrom, Garnet Hathaway and Evgeny Kuznetsov are currently unable to play because of it. Therefore, the Capitals have major holes in their forward group right now.

Oshie has been one of Washington's best players yet again this season. In 14 games thus far, he has four goals and 11 points, so understandably, he's a notable loss for their lineup.

With COVID cases continuing to rise with the Capitals, one has to wonder if the NHL will elect to postpone their games. We have seen that occur numerous times over the last few days and five teams have been shut down entirely until after the holiday break. If we see more Washington player have to enter COVID-19 protocol, they could very well be next.

Alas, here's to hoping Oshie gets better soon.