There was some bad news earlier this week about Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin but that bad news turned into good news beginning on Thursday night. The NHL announced the All Star Game rosters with the festivities taking place in Las Vegas. To nobody’s surprise, Ovechkin had the most votes.
The good news doesn’t stop there as Ovechkin returned to practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Friday morning. For those who have followed closely, you may remember when he left practice early on Thursday and the team saying he had an upper body injury after taking a maintenance day on Tuesday.
Ovechkin has been named an all star for the Capitals for a franchise record 12th time. Ovechkin participated, or got voted in, during 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. The game takes place at T-Mobile Arena on Feb. 4-5.
From Dec. 11-Jan. 8, fans all over the world were able to cast their votes on NHL.com/Vote and via the NHL app. Ovechkin received 30.4 percent of the fan vote for the Metropolitan players and the most votes among all players.
Ovechkin has been named captain of the Metropolitan Division for five of the six All Star Games since the NHL switched to the 3 on 3 divisional tournament format in 2016. Ovechkin didn’t participate in the 2012, 2016, 2019 and 2020 games but in seven career All Star Games, Ovechkin has recorded 14 points with seven goals and seven assists.
The Caps recalled Brett Leason from the Hershey Bears and assigned goaltender Hunter Shepard. During practice Ovechkin took line rushes in his usual spot on the top line alongside Evgeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie.
Ovechkin told the media after practice that he hopes to play tomorrow afternoon against the New York Islanders and that he’ll see how he feels. He also noted that it was a nagging injury he had a while ago and didn’t first suffer from it during Monday night’s loss to the Boston Bruins. In other news, Carl Hagelin and Dmitry Orlov will not travel with the team to New York as they are still in COVID protocols.
“Thank you very much, fans. It’s a huge honor for me to get that captaincy and shows respect from the fans … It’s going to be fun.”@VogsCaps sat down with @ovi8 to discuss being named to the #NHLAllStar Game in Las Vegas.#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/jK4oeZMS0J
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 14, 2022
Back to Ovechkin. The Moscow, Russia native ranks tied for second in the NHL in goals (24), third in points (52), tied for seventh in assists (28) and first in shots (170). Ovechkin’s 32 points at five on five with 12 goals and 20 assists rank tied for first in The NHL and his 22:03 minutes of ice time per game ranks third among forwards.
Congratulations to Ovechkin on being named an All Star. Let’s hope he participates this year so he doesn’t have to sit out a game.