Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin leaves Day 1 of training camp early; team says injury ‘nothing significant’
Alex Ovechkin gave the hockey world a scare after leaving training camp early with an apparent lower-body injury, but according to Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery, the injury is “nothing significant”.
Ovechkin’s injury is “nothing significant,” per Carbery. Said that him not skating was precautionary.
No big concern. Lower-body, day-to-day
Ovechkin was on the ice for a brief amount of time on Thursday, but did not participate in any skate testing before heading to the locker room. The team confirmed shortly after that he left to be evaluated for a lower-body injury, but it wasn’t until later in the day that Carbery confirmed that him not skating was precautionary, and his lower-body injury is just day-to-day.
Ovechkin has traditionally had a clean bill of health in his NHL career. Before the 2024-25 season, he had only missed 48 games in his NHL career, although he missed 17 games last season due to a broken leg.
However, that injury didn’t slow down Ovechkin’s chase for the all-time goal record. Despite only playing in 65 games last season, he managed 44 goals and 29 assists for 73 points, breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record in the fifth-last game of the season to get goal #895.
With 897 career goals right now, Ovechkin is now just three goals away from becoming the first player in NHL history to score 900 in his career. Barring the 40-year-old scoring at a similar pace to last season, he will probably have to wait another season or two if he wants to reach the 950 or 1,000-goal mark.
However, Ovechkin enters the season in the final year of a five-year contract with a $9.5 million cap hit. At this point in time, it’s not confirmed whether or not this will be his final NHL season. If he does re-sign, AFP Analytics currently projects him to sign for two years with a $9,068,800 cap hit.
The Capitals will kick off their preseason on Sunday at 5 p.m. EST when they visit the Boston Bruins.