Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin won’t be playing in the World Championships due to an injury.
Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin takes a lot of pride in playing for Russia internationally. In Russia, it’s a privilege and an honor to represent your country in anyway you can. Ovechkin almost always joins them after his season is over. He’s arguably Russia’s most famous NHL player.
However, this season, he won’t be joining them. According to the Team Russia press release, it’s due to an injury.
"More from Stars and SticksAlex Ovechkin will score 50 goals in 2023-24It’s time for Capitals fans to chill out with the Anthony Mantha hateThe Capitals Have Several Potentially Bad ContractsTop 3 Capitals prospects to watch at Rookie CampTop 3 undrafted invites to watch at Capitals Rookie CampOvechkin cannot join the team at the World Championship because of a lower body injury. Russia’s coaches contacted three Washington players, with [Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov] agreeing to travel to the tournament… Ovechkin finished the NHL playoffs on pain numbing injections."
This injury likely stems from his collision with Nazem Kadri of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round. Until that moment, Ovechkin was playing great as he always does. However, after his return, he was never quite the same. It’s obvious Ovechkin was playing through a ton of pain. He’s lucky he was able to barely limp off the ice. Ovechkin almost always joins Russia for the World Championships, so that tells you how bad he’s feeling right now, both physically and mentally.
Kuznetsov and Orlov, as reported earlier, will be joining Russia for the World Championships. The Capitals have several other players who could join their respective country, so stay tuned to Stars and Sticks for updated coverage on the Caps offseason.