Capitals' Ovechkin has fractured fibula; will miss four-to-six weeks
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Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin suffered a fractured left fibula and is expected to miss four-to-six weeks, the team announced on Thursday.
Ovechkin was injured in a shin-on-shin collision with Utah's Jack McBain on Monday night. The 39-year-old winger went down in obvious pain, then tried to skate and test out the leg minutes later before limping down the tunnel.
The team placed the Ovechkin on injured reserve on Wednesday before further tests confirmed the severity of the injury.
“He’s the hottest guy in the league, and he’s chasing something bigger than hockey,” longtime teammate Tom Wilson said after practice Wednesday.
“I think everyone in the hockey world just feels that bit of letdown, that emotion that you’re just pulling for him and he’s putting everything he has into it. He feels all that pressure. The whole world of hockey is just rooting him on. So, to come in (to the locker room) and see that he was hurt, it hurt a little bit as a teammate, but at the end of the day, that’s hockey.”
Ovechkin has 15 goals in 18 games this season, and his 868 career NHL goals trail the all-time record holder, Wayne Gretzky, by 26.
Before suffering the injury, Ovechkin was on pace to break Gretzky's record by some time in February. That will now have to wait while the veteran rehabilitates from the injury.