ARLINGTON, V.A. — Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is dealing with injury through the start of training camp, as he's officially listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
The 41-year-old, who's been skating primarily with Dylan Strome and Ryan Leonard to open camp, has not skated the last two days and did not play in Sunday's preseason opener. He will not be in the lineup for Monday's game against the Philadelphia Flyers in Hershey, either.
Per coach Spencer Carbery, Washington will play things by ear when it comes to Ovechkin and see how he is in the next two practice days before deciding whether he could appear in Friday's preseason home game against the Boston Bruins or the preseason finale in Philadelphia on Saturday.
"We'll see how it goes this week. We'll be off tomorrow, and then we'll come back and have two practice days, so I'll be able to give you a more accurate update on when we see him and how many games... I'm not going to commit to anything," Carbery said.
Ovechkin, who'd also dealt with injury last training camp, is entering his 22nd NHL season and coming off a productive year where he led D.C. in scoring with 32 goals and 64 points. Coming into this year, he's expected to play a modified role, and is willing to do "whatever it takes" to help the team win.
"I’m pretty sure everybody understands that we have a very good opportunity to be in the playoffs and make some noise out there," Ovechkin said. "The season has not started yet and we have to be ready for Game 1. If you look at last year we missed by one point or two points, right? So you have to be ready right away because every point is very important for us and in the end it’s going to cost you."
