It was reported on Tuesday (Nov. 19) that Washington Capitals’ star forward Alex Ovechkin will be out week-to-week with a lower-body injury following a collision midway through the third period of Monday’s game against the Utah Hockey Club. Washington finished with a 6-2 win, which seemed secondary to questions regarding their captain who limped off the ice on one skate. While Washington’s NHL-leading offense was boosted by Ovechkin, he was not the entire arsenal the Capitals present to challengers.
Top-six forward Connor McMichael, 23, is enjoying the start of a breakout season with 12 goal celebrations in 2024. Five other teammates outside of Ovechkin have recorded at least five goals this season for Washington. Spencer Carbery’s team needs to keep the offense flowing to stay near the top of the Metropolitan Division during Ovechkin’s stint away from the team.
Ovechkin’s Amazingly Healthy 20-Year NHL Career
On the play where the injury occurred, Ovechkin had his left leg outstretched following a turn while reaching to poke a loose puck away from an oncoming forward in the Capitals defensive zone. Simultaneously, Jack McBain, a 6-foot-3, 201-pound forward for Utah, was chasing (and looking at) the puck before attempting to avoid Washington’s captain at the last moment. McBain pirouetted out of the collision while Ovechkin collapsed forward to the ice in clear discomfort before being helped off by the medical staff and teammates.
For Ovechkin, the timing of the injury couldn’t have come at a worse time. Washington’s leader entered the third period seeking a hat trick in back-to-back games. He scored back-to-back goals split between the first and second periods, which was his 177th career multi-goal game trailing only Wayne Gretzky’s 189 two-goal outputs.
Ovechkin is the first player in NHL history with 100 career multi-goal road games. https://t.co/FbCnTmfDoJ
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) November 19, 2024
Ovechkin has appeared in 1,444 regular season games and 151 playoff battles while missing only 35 games due to injury. According to Capitals Outsider’s tracker, he has missed 24 additional games including three suspensions from the NHL, three contests for skipping All-Star Game festivities, and one game for oversleeping as a punishment from the Capitals organization. He has never missed an NHL playoff game.
Overall, Washington’s superstar has missed less than a full NHL season’s worth of games in his career with 59 absences. With the week-to-week injury prognosis, that tiny total will climb higher until Ovechkin returns to the lineup. The Capitals are 26-29-4 in regular-season games without him in the lineup over the last two decades.
Washington’s Offense Still Functional Without Ovechkin
Yes, Ovechkin has caught fire with seven goals over his last five games to take the NHL scoring lead in early November 2024. However, before his bonanza of goals, the Capitals’ offense was still efficiently churning out wins due to the performance of Dylan Strome, Connor McMichael, and Tom Wilson.
Strome may see his assists total fall back to earth a bit without Ovechkin on his line, however, the 2015 first-round pick is still on pace to top 20 goals for the fourth-straight season. While it is highly double that Strome reaches the absurd 100 assists and 128 points from ESPN’s projection, the 27-year-old center will still have talented threats to pass the puck to on this Capitals team while awaiting the NHL’s premier scoring threat to return.
Related: Capitals’ Improvements to Start 2024-25 Have Staying Power
According to those same ESPN models, McMichael is headed for a 50-plus goal season in 2024-25. With 12 goals so far, he is already two-thirds, or 66%, to his season-high of 18 goals set last season through only 18 games this season. If he successfully reaches ESPN’s 55-goal prediction, he might challenge for the NHL scoring crown alongside the title of the top “Connor” in the NHL. He was unwilling to take all of the credit earlier this month. “Playing with Doobie (Dubois) and Willy (Tom Wilson), they make it really easy for me,” he told Sammi Silber of The Hockey News. “I mean, those guys are two of the best players at puck possession and getting the puck back. So when we have the puck, it’s not hard to make plays.”
While Wilson is still scoreless in November, the 30-year-old longtime Capitals veteran has still contributed to Washington’s successful start. He averages a hard-nosed 18:30 time on ice that likely should inflate a bit in Ovechkin’s absence. His 53 hits have him inside the top 25 of the NHL hits leaderboard currently dominated by the Vancouver Canucks’ Kiefer Sherwood’s 105 hits.
The Capitals lead the NHL in scoring with 4.33 games per game. Washington goalies Charlie Lindgren and Logan Thompson have allowed a combined 2.78 goals per game, tied for 8th-best in the NHL. If Ovechkin’s NHL-leading 15 goals were removed from Washington’s 78 goals this season, the Capitals would still have 63 fist-bump celebrations, an average of 3.5 goals per game. That adjusted total would still place 6th in the NHL.
Capitals “Week-to-Week” Schedule
With the leader of the Metropolitan Division suffering an injury to its biggest star, Washington will need to battle some of the NHL’s best teams without their on-ice leader. Some important battles are looming ahead with some of the best teams the Eastern Conference has to offer over the next four weeks.
The Capitals (13-4-1) finish out this upcoming weekend at Capital One Arena with games against the Colorado Avalanche (10-9-0) and New Jersey Devils (12-7-2) on a two-game homestand. Next week includes a road trip to battle the Florida Panthers (12-5-1) and Tampa Bay Lightning (9-6-1) before returning home to D.C. for a Black Friday afternoon matinee against the New York Islanders (7-7-4). November’s schedule closes with a road rematch against the Devils the next night.
December opens up with the San Jose Sharks (6-10-4) and rookie Macklin Celebrini playing against Washington for the first time. The Capitals travel to Canada for back-to-back fights in Toronto (11-6-2) and Montreal (7-10-2) on Dec. 6 and Dec. 7. Three weeks following Ovechkin’s injury includes a home game with the Buffalo Sabres (8-9-1) before a Western Conference flight to Dallas (11-6-0) and Chicago (6-11-1).
With Metropolitan Division teams like New Jersey, the New York Rangers, and the Carolina Hurricanes showing no signs of slowing down, Washington will need to continue to generate offense at a high level to compete with the best in the East. Even with a potential drop in goals from losing their top goal scorer, Washington looks equipped to handle the week-to-week Ovechkin injury.
