Sonny Milano’s availability to start next season in question

This season was one to forget for Capitals winger Sonny Milano.  He was scratched several times early on in the season and after his third game back in early November, he didn’t come back at all after suffering a setback in his recovery from an upper-body injury near the trade deadline.

Unfortunately for him and Washington, it appears that it’s far from a given that Milano will be available to start next season as well.  Speaking with reporters today (video link), GM Chris Patrick noted that the 29-year-old is still in the process of trying to see if he can get himself healthy, a process that’s likely to carry into the summer.

Milano has one year remaining on a three-year, $5.7M contract signed back in 2023 when he was in the middle of his second straight 30-plus-point season.  Unfortunately, things haven’t gone so well since then, as he has only managed to play in 52 games in the last two years.

As a result of the injury, Milano spent most of the year on LTIR, joining Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie, whose contracts are set to expire this summer.  If Milano isn’t ready to start next season and will miss at least the first 10 games and 24 days, he’ll be eligible to remain on there.  In the meantime, that uncertainty certainly won’t help Patrick and the Capitals in their offseason planning as they’ll need to leave themselves a bit of wiggle room in case Milano’s availability is in flux once again for 2025-26.