Alex Ovechkin is one of the most durable players in NHL history, but the Capitals captain has missed a career-high 10 straight games this season due to a broken fibula in his left leg.
During his 20 seasons in the NHL, Ovechkin has missed 69 total games, but only 45 due to injury. Longtime former teammate Evgeny Kuznetsov, who now plays for SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL, says the legendary winger could have missed more if he wasn’t so tough.
“He has heroic health,” Kuznetsov said to Match TV’s Pavel Lysenkov in Russian and translated by Google Translate. “Some people have it, but many don’t. He trained a lot, he has a mountain of muscles. And Alexander is one of those players who played with injuries. It’s just that Ovechkin doesn’t talk about it, like most hockey players. He got hit on the little finger, the finger got swollen, the bone was broken, but Sasha doesn’t tell anyone, he keeps playing.
“We played together for many years, and he tried never to miss games due to injuries that he could play with,” Kuznetsov added. “People think that Ovechkin doesn’t have injuries. But he does, it’s just that no one knows about them.”
Ovechkin has taken a number of maintenance days later in his career to help reduce the wear and tear on his body — though whatever he’s nursing or managing is usually not made public and described as either upper or lower body injuries.
One of the first instances of Ovechkin sitting out a skate for “maintenance” came in April of 2018 after he was nicked up in a late-season game against the St. Louis Blues. Ovechkin did not miss either of the final two games of the 2017-18 season and would score 15 goals in the playoffs en route to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.
The process has become more frequent as Ovi has aged. Prior to the 2024-25 season, he missed just eight combined games due to injury over the past three seasons.
Despite Ovechkin already missing such a big chunk of the 2024-25 campaign, Kuznetsov still believes Ovi could net 50 goals by season’s end. Ovechkin had 15 goals in 18 games at the time of his injury against the Utah Hockey Club on November 18.
“I think there is nothing impossible for him,” Kuznetsov said. “He can go 20 games without scoring, and then score 20 goals in 10 games. When we talk about Ovechkin, nothing should surprise us. I hope he gets better soon and starts scoring goals again.”
