Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin will be a game-time decision against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday. The Capitals play the Devils at Prudential Center at 1 pm.

Ovechkin, as well as Carl Hagelin, missed practice on Friday. The Capitals deemed Ovi’s absence as a maintenance day.

It’s not exactly unknown what kept Ovi off the ice.

Alex Ovechkin will be a game-time decision for the Capitals tomorrow vs. Devils, team says.

Ovechkin had a maintenance day today and did not practice. Hagelin also had a maintenance day.

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) February 26, 2021

NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti reported that Ovechkin blocked a shot from Kris Letang off his foot on Tuesday and “had a long talk with the trainer at the end of the morning skate” Thursday. It’s unclear if that shot block is what kept the future Hockey Hall of Famer off the ice.

Ovechkin blocked a shot off his foot from Letang in the third period on Tuesday. He played after that, but not in OT.

Had a long talk with the trainer at the end of the morning skate yesterday and played last night.

So seems to be playing through something. https://t.co/s33UivQyd9

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) February 26, 2021

Ovechkin has missed four games this season, but not due to injury. Ovi was placed on the COVID-19 Unavailability List after watching UFC matches and played video games in the same hotel room with Ilya Samsonov, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Dmitry Orlov without wearing a mask. Samsonov, the Capitals later learned, tested positive for coronavirus and passed it to Kuznetsov.

Ovi is one of the most durable players in NHL history. On January 28, 2020, we wrote that Ovechkin had only missed 17 out of 1,164 games due to injury during his career.

Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB