On Thursday, November 21, 2024, the Washington Capitals provided an injury update on Alex Ovechkin. The team announced that he suffered a fracture in his left fibula and will miss 4-6 weeks.
This is a terrible blow to the Capitals who were humming along at 13-4-1 and in second place in the Metropolitan Division. Much of the success can be attributed to Alex Ovechkin, 39, who has been on a scoring tear with 15 goals and 10 assists.
His initial status was week-to-week, but 4-6 weeks is a significant chunk of time. This will be the longest injury layoff of his 18-year career, and it poses a significant challenge to his ability to tie or surpass Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record.
Breaking: Alex Ovechkin has a broken left fibula and is expected to be out four to six weeks, the Washington Capitals announced Thursday.
The 39-year-old currently leads the league with 15 goals and is 27 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL goalscoring record. pic.twitter.com/epX7NZhaIR
— ESPN (@espn) November 21, 2024
The Capitals have 14 games over the next four weeks and 19 in six weeks. This team must hang tough without their superstar and future Hall of Famer.
Who Will Step Up To Fill Alex Ovechkin’s Shoes?
It will be impossible to make up the void on the ice over the next month (or so) without the Capitals captain.
Aliaksei Protas said: “It’s hard to lose our top [goal]-scorer and he’s our leader and a big guy in the locker room for sure, but I think if we want to be successful as a group, now is going to be a great test to show what we can do.”
Don’t sleep on Dylan Strome 👀 pic.twitter.com/NnskJLwjK2
— NHL (@NHL) November 10, 2024
The team will look to Protas, Dylan Strome, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Brandon Duhaime, and Connor McMichael as part of the wave of players that will step up and keep the Capitals in contention as Ovechkin recovers.
The quest begins in earnest on Thursday night as the Ovechkin-less Capitals host the 10-9 Colorado Avalanche at 7 PM EST.
