Alex Ovechkin has been durable for much of his Washington Capitals illustrious career. But recently the captain has been dealing with a left fibula injury. He's still traveling with the team to their upcoming brief road trip but he won't be in action, instead taking games in on the Mentor's Trip with his Father in Law.
But anyway Ovi can sip a beverage at a Wizards game if he wants to. That move alone makes it seem like he'll be back in less than six weeks but the official timeline is 4-6 weeks as of Nov. 24, 2024.
Ovechkin has missed a total of 61 games in his career and the Capitals are 26-31-4 in that stretch. 37 of those games were due to injury. Seven of those absensces were for disciplinary reasons with three suspensions total. He also missed six games for family reasons and six games for COVID protocol which included two in 2022.
In additon Ovechkin has been suspended by the NHL for skipping the All Star Game three times. Ovi has also missed one game for oversleeping and was punished by the team as a result. See kids, even the captain ain't perfect.
He also missed one game in the 2015-16 season as a lot of starters as the game itself was meaningless with the Presidents Trophy already clinched that year. Aside from those regualr season games Ovi was never absent in a playoff game and has missed five All Star Games total.
Those five ASGs that he missed came in 2012 due to the suspension, 2016 due to injury, 2019 as he rested, 2020 as he rested, as well as 2022 in the COVID season.
The latest injury came in Utah with Ovi on the heels of a hat trick for the second straight night. Alas it has paused his record chase, for now at least. Ovechkin sits 26 goals away from Wayne Gretzky's all time goals record and the chase will be back on when he's healthy again. Stay tuned as they say.