Alex Ovechkin appears to be ramping up the recovery process from his fractured left fibula in his latest skate ahead of Washington Capitals practice.
Per Monumental Sports Network’s Tarik El-Bashir, Ovechkin got on the ice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex for 20 minutes of work on Monday morning. In video provided to El-Bashir by Monumental’s photographer Greg Abernathy, the Caps captain can be seen skating figure 8s around the practice rink at a slightly quicker pace than he had been in his prior two known on-ice workouts in full gear.
New week, new footage of Alex Ovechkin ramping up. The #Caps’ captain skated for a little more than 20 minutes this morning. (h/t to @MonSportsNet photog Greg Abernathy.) pic.twitter.com/qFCNR8Q8Bh
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) December 9, 2024
“Still status quo,” head coach Spencer Carbery said. “[Next], I think you’ll see him closer to practice time – like he’ll be out with Kenny McCudden before practice. Then, I’m sure it’ll probably go to him taking part in a couple of drills, maybe not the competitive ones where’s there resistance there. Those will be the next steps.”
Ovechkin stuck around after his latest spin on the ice and watched practice from the bench.
The Great Eight missed his eighth and ninth consecutive games this past weekend as the Capitals traveled north of the border to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens on back-to-back days. Washington won both contests, improving to 6-2-1 without the big Russian winger.
The 39-year-old winger did not seemingly join the rest of his teammates on their latest road trip, meaning he could have gotten in several more skates over the past few days. The Capitals do not have their next game scheduled until Thursday this week against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Ovechkin had scored a league-leading 15 goals through the first 18 games of the 2024-25 season, the highest goals-per-game rate of his career (0.83). Washington has scored 31 goals in the nine games they’ve been without him, averaging 3.4 per game, slightly under the team’s 4.04 overall average this year.
If the Capitals’ previously provided four-to-six-week return timeline is still accurate, Ovechkin could miss anywhere between three to nine more games. Either extreme will see Ovechkin miss more than 11 games this season, which will be his new career-high in a single season after missing that many during the 2020-21 campaign.
Washington will have another four-day break from games later this month around the Christmas holiday. In total, they will play 10 more games in December.
