ARLINGTON, VA — The Washington Capitals are without the services of captain Alex Ovechkin for the next stretch of their season, but the 39-year-old superstar isn’t going far.
After fracturing his fibula Monday against the Utah Hockey Club, Ovechkin watched on as his teammates practiced at MedStar Capitals Iceplex Saturday morning. He was not wearing a visible brace or using crutches as he walked around the rink, though he still appeared to limp slightly.
Ovechkin’s injury came in the third period against Utah after a leg-on-leg collision with forward Jack McBain. The Capitals initially said Ovechkin was out week-to-week with a lower-leg injury before clarifying Thursday that he would be out four to six weeks.
In terms of games missed, the injury is the most severe of Ovechkin’s 20-season NHL career. His longest consecutive stretch out of the lineup came during the 2009-10 season when he sat out six games with an upper-body injury: he’ll easily double that length even on the short end of the four-to-six-week timeline.
Before getting hurt, Ovechkin was off to one of the hottest starts of his career. He scored 15 goals in 18 games to start the 2024-25 season and held sole possession of the league lead in goals at the time of the injury, scoring twice against Utah before going down the tunnel. He now sits 26 goals behind Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record.
“He was playing his best hockey in years,” John Carlson noted Wednesday.
Ovechkin made his first public appearance since his injury Friday night, sitting courtside as the Washington Wizards faced the Boston Celtics at Capital One Arena.
