Alex Ovechkin out 4 to 6 weeks with broken fibula: What it means for Capitals, scoring record chase

On By Littum

Alex Ovechkin will lack manageable time off the ice. The Washington Capitals star captain underwent further evaluation Thursday and was diagnosed with a fractured left fibula, the team announced. Ovechkin is expected to miss four to six weeks.

Ovechkin, 39, was originally ruled week-to-week with a lower-body injury Tuesday after an accidental knee-on-knee collision with Utah Hockey Club forward Jack McBain during Monday’s 6-2 win.

Ovechkin, who is chasing the NHL’s all-time scoring record, has 15 goals and 10 assists in 18 games played so far this season. He has 868 career goals, just 27 shy of surpassing Wayne Gretzky’s record.

What does this mean for Ovechkin?

That he will probably have to wait until next season to break Gretzky’s goal record.

There aren’t many examples of athletes pushing 40 making a smooth recovery from a lower-body injury as significant as a broken fibula. He’s no average athlete, but he’s human – and he needs to at least have time to shake off the rust and also work his way into fitness when he comes back from this injury.

With Ovechkin, the legs feed the wolf, so to speak. He is a raw force of a scorer who drives shots with his lower body. He looks to be skating like a player at least five years younger this season — will that change when he returns from a broken bone?

There is no way to answer that question now.

Still, even if he returns in early 2025, he likely needs a hot streak to pass Gretzky this season.

His shot at the scoring record was destined to be the story of the second half of this season — one that might generate interest the likes of which the NHL hasn’t seen, at least in the United States, in years.

He’s too close to the record not to get it eventually. But it looked like he could knock it off en route to an improbable 50-goal season, if not a run at a fourth Hart Trophy.

This was shaping up to be a legacy-defining season for an all-time icon behind whom the NHL could potentially break into the mainstream sports conversation. All of that could be off the table because of this injury. — Rob Rossi, NHL Senior Writer

How does this affect the capitals?

The Capitals surprised a lot of people by making the playoffs last season — and they did so in part because Ovechkin found his scoring in the second half.

Their emergence this season as an apparent dark horse Cup contender coincided with Ovechkin’s scoring surge. It was as if an improved roster was also fueled by the captain’s finishing form.

However, there is no way to overstate how big of a blow it is for the Capitals to lose Ovechkin. Even when he’s not scoring, if he’s on the ice, he’s a threat that draws opponents’ best defensive pairings and often best defensive forwards. And on the power play, where he is arguably the most dangerous weapon the NHL has known, Ovechkin is irreplaceable.

The Capitals are more than just Ovechkin, but not having him for at least a month — and it’s completely unknown what he’ll look like when he returns — is as big an obstacle as any team has faced this season . – Rossi

(Photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images)