We’ve reached the midway point of the season and after two Caps games this upcoming week the entire hockey world will turn it’s attention to the 2022 NHL All Star Game. The lone Washington Capitals representative is none other than Alex Ovechkin as the captain of the Metropolitan Division.
This marks the fifth time Ovechkin gets voted to the All Star Game as captain of the Metropolitan Division. And he’s been tearing it up proving his worth after the contract extension he signed over the summer. As of this writing, Ovechkin is fifth in the league with 58 points, and tied for second in goals with 29.
Ovechkin has been selected for 12 total All Star Games and has played in seven in his career. The previous two All Star Games, Ovechkin opted out of playing due to him wanting to rest up for the remainder of the season. The Capitals, however, claim that this time Ovechkin will go. And who wouldn’t pass up a chance to go to Las Vegas.
Ovechkin’s 12th All Star Game selection is a franchise record and he’s been named captain of the Metropolitan Division for five of the last six times since the NHL switched to the divisional tournament format in 2016.
Ovechkin received the most votes among all players with 30.4 percent of the fan vote. The other captains are Auston Matthews of the Atlantic Division, Nathan Mackinnon of the Central Division, and Connor McDavid of the Pacific Division.
The All Star Skills Competition will take place on Feb. 4 with the divisional 3 on 3 tournament taking place Feb. 5. Ovechkin has 759 goals in his career and so far this season has bypassed Marcel Dionne and Brett Hull on the NHL’s all time goals scored list. He is eight away from passing Jaromir Jagr for the third most goals all time.
The Gr8est thing to hit the Las Vegas Strip since, well, you know…😏
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 13, 2022
Ovi’s the #NHLAllStar Metro Division captain!#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/y70fG2sUZK
The biggest question about whether or not we vote him in is does Ovechkin even want to go. But the Capitals official twitter account tweeted back on Dec. 16 “and yes, for those of you asking, he wants to go”.
And hopefully Ovechkin does go and puts on a show for those fans over in Vegas. After all, he sure knows a thing or two about putting on a show in that city.