How Alex Ovechkin’s injury affects goaltending, playoff hopes

Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is expected to miss the next four to six weeks after suffering a broken left fibula, the team announced Thursday.

And with that, The Great 8’s pursuit of the all-time NHL scoring record, currently held by Wayne Gretzky, is now on hold. Ovechkin currently has 868 goals and is chasing Gretzky’s 894.

Meanwhile, the Capitals are in second place in the Metropolitan Division, just one point off the pace of the Carolina Hurricanes, with the season almost at the quarter mark.

What exactly is the damage? How will the Capitals be affected on the ice and in the locker room? Here’s what we know now and what’s coming next.

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What do we know about his injury?

Ovechkin has missed just 35 games due to injury in his entire 20-season career. That’s an astonishing mark in itself and highlights the veteran’s overall durability. Even his teammates were shocked that Ovechkin could be subjected to such a stretch.

“Everybody’s hurt,” said winger Tom Wilson, an Ovechkin teammate since 2013. “We were sitting there going, ‘This is weird. It’s like unbelievable that he’s actually hurt.’ It’s one of those things where he’s going to miss games I’ve been with for a long time and it’s new to me.”

That’s what made Ovechkin’s shin-on-shin collision against Utah so hard to watch — immediately it looked bad. Ovechkin had a walking boot out of the arena that night, and now the Capitals have confirmed it’s a fibula fracture. They can be hard to come back from. Jake DeBrusk, for example, broke his fibula in the 2023 Winter Classic, and it was more than six weeks before the Boston Bruins even began to gently work him back into the lineup.

There will be a physical and mental component to Ovechkin’s recovery; the fibula itself needs to heal, and then he needs to be comfortable going back on the ice, making contact, cutting the edges and trusting the work he’s put into strengthening his muscles again. At 39, it won’t be easy. — Shilton

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What does this mean for his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s record?

Before the injury, Ovechkin was on pace to score what would have been a career-high 68 goals this season. He is 26 goals shy of tying the record, and would have surpassed Gretzky in either late December or early January if he kept scoring at that pace.

But now? The earliest he could return to the Capitals’ lineup would be Dec. 20 against the Carolina Hurricanes, while the six-week deadline means he would return Jan. 2 against the Minnesota Wild, with the NHL’s Christmas break splitting the difference. If he returns before December 20, he will have missed 13 games, while the January 2 return date pushes that number to 18 games – a difference of five games. That would leave him with 51 games remaining if he returns before Dec. 20 or 43 games if he were to return after the New Year.

In either case, he has more than half of the regular season left to break the record. But it also comes with the realization that to break the record, he would have to score 0.49 goals per game. match if he returns on December 20, with the number rising to 0.58 goals per game. match if he returns on January 2. To reach those rates, we’re looking at the start of the 2025-26 season to break Gretzky’s record. — Clark

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How will the Capitals be affected on the ice?

In a word? Monster. Losing its top scorer for more than four weeks is a challenge for any team. But when it’s someone who was in the process of scoring nearly 70 goals on a team that leads the NHL with 4.33 goals per game. match? It just further reinforces what Ovechkin’s absence will mean for the Caps.

It’s possible Capitals coach Spencer Carbery could turn to a top line with Connor McMichael on the left wing, centered by Pierre-Luc Dubois with Wilson on the right wing. That would leave the Caps with Dylan Strome anchoring a second line with Andrew Mangiapane and Aliaksei Protas, which appeared to be their setup before Thursday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche.

Although Ovechkin leads them in scoring, the Caps have received significant contributions from a pair of homegrown talents in McMichael and Protas. McMichael was second on the team with 12 goals on Thursday, while Protas was third with seven.

That said, one player the Capitals would love to see step up is Dubois. He’s been productive — he has 12 points in 18 games. It’s just that he’s scored just one goal this season – a staggering number considering he’s been a 20-goal scorer four times in his career. — Clark

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What about the emotional element?

Every single player in the locker room has been invested in Ovechkin’s quest to break Gretzky’s record, and they’ve thrived on helping him get closer to history. Will Ovechkin’s absence leave an intangible void? Especially if seeing him get off to such a great start to the season — and be on pace to hit Gretzky’s mark — was a boost for this overachieving Washington team? It’s certainly something to consider, and some of the capitals might already be.

“You know when scorers start scoring, it’s dangerous,” said John Carlson, Ovechkin’s teammates since 2009. “We see him come on the court every day, we know what’s at stake. You never want , that somebody gets hurt. , but there’s a lot to it, and he certainly played his best hockey in years.”

It will be up to Washington’s leadership group now to ensure there are no hangovers related to Ovechkin’s injury and to instill the belief that the Capitals can not only continue to be a contender without him, but that their overall sense of purpose going into the season do not take any kind of hit. — Shilton