Alex Ovechkin is starting the 2024-25 season slightly less than 100 percent after admitting he got banged up during his offseason training.
Ovechkin was held out of the team’s skating test on Thursday as a precaution, per the Capitals’ Mike Vogel, but participated fully in Training Camp’s opening practice, calling his ailment “nothing major” afterward. However, that didn’t stop his health from becoming a significant topic of discussion. The Great Eight missed just three games last season due to injury, but he is another year older and already nursing something.
“He’s a little bit nicked up right now but able to participate in practice which was a positive sign,” head coach Spencer Carbery said. “We just want to be smart with it early in camp because the first few days are tough, they’re difficult days. He, as our captain, wants to be out there, but we need to be intelligent about trying to be out there.”
General manager Chris Patrick relayed a similar message.
“Not very concerned,” Patrick said. “He just made it through a pretty tough practice first day of camp. I’m sure [head athletic trainer Jason Serbus] will get his hands on him. We’ll be fine.
“Any player this age you’re just trying to make sure your body can make it through the season, right? It’s a lot harder than it was when you were 23, 24. Just taking care of himself off the ice and doing the treatments, recovery stuff, and trying to make sure anything nagging doesn’t become anything worse than that.”
There were prior talks of injury surrounding Ovechkin this offseason, starting in late July. Russian reporting from outlet Match TV revealed that Ovechkin missed Sergei Mozyakin’s farewell KHL game due to a minor knee injury. However, he played in an Ovi Cup scrimmage with various other NHL stars and his son Sergei just a few weeks later.
According to Vogel, Ovechkin left the team’s informal skate early on Monday with an “undisclosed ailment.” A source also told RMNB that Ovechkin had a private autograph signing for Fanatics that day. Ovechkin then looked fine and participated fully in the Capitals’ informal skate on Tuesday — a day before medical tests and Media Day on Wednesday. But Vogel still called Thursday’s participation “not a given.”
Furthering confusion, Ovechkin’s agent, Gleb Chistyakov, delivered a comment to Sport-Express’ Michele Antonov on Wednesday, denying his client was hurt altogether.
“He’s training; everything is fine,” Chistyakov said as per a Google Translation. “I don’t know where the information [came from]. There are no health problems.”
The frequency of the reports and this recent admission indicate that Ovechkin has at the least been bothered by something off and on for some time now, but the exact occasion when it first occurred can not be pinpointed. Ovechkin himself sounded entirely unconcerned and echoed thoughts similar to those of the team’s top brass.
“You just have to be smart, and we talked about it with our trainers and the coaching staff,” Ovechkin said. “So, I went there just to see how I feel, and I feel nice out there. I was skating normal. But you just have to be smart.”
This story has been updated since publication.
