“I expect him to be ready,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said Friday. “We would need a setback for him not to be ready for our opening game of the season in Carolina. We would need something to change. But I expect him to be ready.”
Ovechkin did not skate for three straight days before returning to practice briefly on Wednesday and going through a full practice on Thursday. The 41-year-old forward also participated in the morning skate on Friday, but Washington decided to play it safe, so he won’t play in its exhibition game at home against the Boston Bruins on Friday or its preseason finale at the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.
“We’re just going to be cautious with it,” Carbery said.
Ovechkin also dealt with a lower-body injury at the start of training camp last season and missed the Capitals’ first four preseason games before playing in the last two. He then played in all 82 regular-season games and led Washington with 32 goals to increase his NHL record total to 929.
Though Carbery acknowledged that it’s not ideal that Ovechkin, who is beginning his 22nd NHL season, won’t play at all this preseason, he said it’s more important to make sure he’s healthy for the start of the regular season.
“I’m not going to sit here and say that it’s the best scenario possible him not playing any exhibition games, but we’re making sure without a doubt,” Carbery said. “Even if he’s 90-95, if he is not 100 percent there, what’s the sense in rushing him? No disrespect, we’d like to get him into a game, but it’s an exhibition game at the same time.
“So we’ll give him an extra whatever the exact amount of days to get himself 100 percent healthy, which is more of a priority than him getting into a little bit of game action.”
