Sonny Milano had a difficult 2024-25 season.
After starting the year mostly on the sidelines as a healthy scratch, the 29-year-old winger suffered an upper-body injury on November 6 in a game against the Nashville Predators. Two weeks later, the Capitals moved him to long-term injured reserve.
Milano never found his way off of LTIR for the rest of the year. In total, he played only three games.
“It was a really tough season for Sonny, and he worked really hard to try to come back,” Caps GM Chris Patrick said Monday. “I think he’s still kind of in that process of trying to see if he can get himself healthy, and I think that’s going to go into the summer, and we’re just going to have to see where he is as the summer goes on. We’re going to have to give him some time and space to figure out where he is and how his injuries are holding up, and go from there.”
Milano first got back on the ice for some light drills with the rest of his teammates in early January, wearing a non-contact jersey. He progressed to being a full participant in skates on February 26, donning a regular practice jersey for the first time in almost four months.
However, the positive progress ended there. He lasted on the ice only nine days, as Patrick revealed during his post-trade deadline media availability on March 7 that Milano had suffered a “fairly significant setback.” Milano only got back on the ice once — to participate in the official 2024-25 team photo.
Whatever Milano’s injury is, it will not require him to go under the knife. Patrick said Monday that he doesn’t expect any of the Capitals’ players to need surgery this summer.
Milano scored a career-high 15 goals and chipped in 23 total points for the Capitals in 49 games during the 2023-24 season. He is set to earn $1.9 million against the salary cap next year and then become an unrestricted free agent.
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.
