Ovechkin out 4-6 weeks for Capitals with broken leg

Over his 20 NHL seasons, Ovechkin has missed just 59 games, 35 of which were due to injury. He missed five games or fewer in 16 of his previous 19 seasons, and the 11 games he sat out during the COVID-shortened 56-game 2020-21 season (seven for a lower-body injury, four in COVID -the protocol) are the most he has missed in any season.

“We sat there and said, ‘This is strange.’ It’s unbelievable that he’s actually hurt,” Capitals right wing Tom Wilson said Wednesday. “It’s one of those things where like, ‘Is he going to miss games?’ It’s new to me. He doesn’t go out there and just run around for 20 years running over guys and skating. He’s a power forward, maybe the best scoring power forward, who plays the game really hard. It’s been fantastic.

“I’m sure he’ll be back stronger than ever and flying around soon.”

Ovechkin’s injury halts his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 894 goals. With an NHL-leading 15 goals in his first 18 games this season, Ovechkin raised his career tally to 868 and closed within 27 goals of surpassing Gretzky.

Ovechkin was the oldest player in NHL history to be the first to reach 15 goals in a season.

“He’s not just limping into this record, he was dominating and he was going for a Rocket (Richard Trophy for most goals in a season),” Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon said. “So it (stinks) he’s out for a couple of weeks, but hopefully he can come back quicker than they say and keep chasing it.”