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Alex Ovechkin

Snapshots: Montreal, Matthews, Ovechkin

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The Montreal Canadiens will be allowed to have 50 percent capacity at home games as of February 21, according to Quebec Premier Francois Legault today. By March 14, they will be back to full capacity under the current plan. The Canadiens have five home games between now and the first threshold, which means five more games of lost revenue for the team and league.

Recently, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman put some pressure on the government by suggesting that this summer’s draft could be pulled from Montreal if restrictions were not lifted. Should this plan move forward and there are no further complications that cause another shutdown, it would seem as though the Canadiens will host the event after all.

  • Auston Matthews didn’t take part in practice but was feeling “pretty good” today according to head coach Sheldon Keefe, who spoke to reporters including Joshua Kloke of The Athletic. Matthews left last night’s game late in the third period with what appeared to be a head or neck injury after colliding with Brett Pesce. The injury wasn’t before the Toronto Maple Leafs superstar scored another two goals, taking him to 31 in 40 games this season.
  • Alex Ovechkin has cleared the COVID protocol and is available for the Washington Capitals today according to head coach Peter Laviolette. Ovechkin was asymptomatic during his All-Star isolation and is expected to be in the lineup when the team takes on the Columbus Blue Jackets this evening. The team sent Brett Leason, who likely would have been in the lineup if Ovechkin had been unavailable, back to the AHL. Ilya Samsonov and Connor McMichael, who missed practice yesterday while awaiting results, have also been cleared according to Tom Gulitti of NHL.com.

Poll: Who Will Win The 2022 Rocket Richard Trophy?

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Yesterday, we asked PHR readers to vote on who they thought would win the NHL scoring race and take home the Art Ross Trophy in 2022. Despite currently trailing by several points, Connor McDavid is polling ahead of Jonathan Huberdeau as fans believe the Edmonton Oilers superstar will regain his crown in the second half.

But what about the goal race? After never scoring more than 28 in a single season, Chris Kreider now leads the league with 33 tallies–including an incredible 17 on the powerplay–through his first 47 games. The big New York Rangers winger has been scoring at a ridiculous pace, finding the back of the net on 22.5% of his shots. Will that continue down the stretch with players like Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox feeding him with the man advantage, or will Kreider get passed by some of the former champions right behind him?

Leon Draisaitl, a former 50-goal scorer is right behind Kreider and is actually scoring at an even better pace. Through 42 games the Oilers’ forward has 32 goals, taking him to 231 through his 520-game NHL career. While he’s still just 26, Draisaitl is already on a Hall of Fame pace and could add to that legacy with another few individual trophies this year. Even his shooting percentage of 21.5% this season which would normally be considered inflated, isn’t that much higher than his normal number. One of the most accurate and efficient shooters in the game, Draisaitl has scored on 17.6% of the shots in his career.

If you want to win a Rocket though, you have to go through the guy in third place. Alex Ovechkin has taken the trophy nine times in his illustrious career and looks ready to compete for a tenth. Through 46 games Ovechkin has 29 goals, 21 of which have come at even-strength. That leads the league, meaning if the Washington Capitals captain starts finding the back of the net a little more on the powerplay things could change rapidly.

Since the 2012-13 season, only two players have finished a single season with more goals than Ovechkin. Sidney Crosby in 2016-17 and Auston Matthews last year, when he potted 41 in the shortened 56-game schedule. After a slow start and some missed games, Matthews is right back on track to defend his crown as the league’s best goal scorer with 29 in just 39 matches. That includes 22 in his last 22, a goal-per-game pace that the Toronto Maple Leafs superstar has flirted with for long stretches in the past. Given how many different ways the 24-year-old can score, it’s hard to bet against him even if the others got an early lead.

Other players who could quickly enter the conversation are Kyle Connor, Alex DeBrincat, and Filip Forsberg, though it’ll be hard to catch and pass that group at the top. It appears to be a four-man are at the moment with a quartet of the league’s best.

Who do you think will come out on top? Cast your vote below and make sure to leave another contender in the comments if you believe they’ll catch up in the second half.

Who will win the 2022 Rocket Richard Trophy?
Auston Matthews 30.05% (192 votes)
Leon Draisaitl 22.85% (146 votes)
Alex Ovechkin 18.78% (120 votes)
Chris Kreider 17.84% (114 votes)
Other 2.97% (19 votes)
Alex DeBrincat 2.35% (15 votes)
Mikko Rantanen 1.72% (11 votes)
Troy Terry 1.56% (10 votes)
Kyle Connor 0.94% (6 votes)
Filip Forsberg 0.94% (6 votes)
Total Votes: 639

[Mobile users click here to vote!]

Tom Wilson, Jonathan Marchessault Added To All-Star Rosters

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The NHL has been forced to make another few changes to the All-Star rosters after recent injuries and COVID results. Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson will be replacing teammate Alex Ovechkin, who tested positive for coronavirus today and will miss the event. Ovechkin, who was supposed to serve as captain of the Metropolitan Division, will pass the “C” to Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers.

It will be Wilson’s first All-Star experience and it comes during the best season of his career. The 27-year-old forward has 13 goals and 31 points in 42 games, a pace that would see him shatter his previous career-high of 44 points in short order. A player who scored just nine goals during his draft year and was selected because of the raw size, aggression, and skating ability he showed, Wilson has developed into a premier power forward in the NHL and looks poised to crack the 20-goal mark for the third time.

On the Pacific Division side, Jonathan Marchessault has been added, though the league did not immediately reveal who he would be replacing. The 31-year-old Vegas Golden Knights forward will also be at the event for the first time, despite several outstanding seasons since he arrived in Sin City. Marchessault has 20 goals and 32 points in 41 games, only trailing Chandler Stephenson for the team lead in overall scoring. One of the original misfits, he’ll get to take the ice at home during the event in Las Vegas this weekend.

Things kick off on Friday night with the NHL All-Star Skills, before a three-game, 3-on-3 tournament Saturday.

Alex Ovechkin Enters COVID Protocol; Tom Wilson To Replace At All-Star Game

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The Washington Capitals have announced that Alex Ovechkin is unavailable for tonight’s game, as he has entered the league’s COVID protocol. The team has also already ruled out Ovechkin’s participation in the All-Star game, based on a positive test result. The team has recalled Brett Leason and Pheonix Copley–who will fill in for the injured Vitek Vanecek–from the taxi squad.

That’s the second All-Star captain that has been forced out of the game, following Nathan MacKinnon’s recent injury that will keep him out of the festivities. Ovechkin was set to captain the Metropolitan Division, a role that will now have to be filled by someone else. According to Emily Kaplan of ESPN, Tom Wilson will be going to the All-Star game in Ovechkin’s place.

More importantly, he’ll also miss tonight’s game against the Edmonton Oilers and be unable to add to his outstanding season totals. The 36-year-old superstar has 29 goals and 29 assists on the year, a scoring rate that had him on pace for his fifth 100-point season and first in more than a decade. Arguably already the greatest goal-scorer of all time, Ovechkin is once again leading the league in even-strength tallies and trails only Chris Kreider and Leon Draisaitl in overall goals.

Given the reduced isolation period, Ovechkin could very well be cleared in time to play on February 8, the first game back for the Capitals after the break. In the meantime, hockey fans won’t get to see him go up against Connor McDavid tonight or participate in events like the hardest shot competition on Friday night.

2022 NHL All-Star Game Rosters Revealed

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Jan 26: After Batherson was injured last night, the league has announced that Brady Tkachuk will replace him and be the Senators’ representative.

Jan 13: During a live reveal on ESPN’s SportsCenter program in the United States, the National Hockey League unveiled their four divisional rosters for the 2022 NHL All-Star Game in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Eight skaters and two goalies were announced for each team, leaving one skater spot open for each division. That last spot will once again be decided by a fan vote, who they can select by voting at NHL.com/LastMenIn.

The head coaches of each team were announced earlier, decided by the teams in first place (by points percentage) in their division on New Years Day. Florida’s Andrew Brunette heads the Atlantic Division, Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour will coach the Metropolitan Division, Colorado’s Jared Bednar is the bench boss for the Central Division, and Vegas’ Peter DeBoer will serve as the Pacific Division’s coach.

Below are the full rosters for each division.

Atlantic Division

F Auston Matthews “C” (Toronto Maple Leafs)
F Drake Batherson (Ottawa Senators)
F Patrice Bergeron (Boston Bruins)
F Jonathan Huberdeau (Florida Panthers)
F Dylan Larkin (Detroit Red Wings)
F Nick Suzuki (Montreal Canadiens)
D Rasmus Dahlin (Buffalo Sabres)
D Victor Hedman (Tampa Bay Lightning)
G Jack Campbell (Toronto Maple Leafs)
G Andrei Vasilevskiy (Tampa Bay Lightning)

Metropolitan Division

F Alex Ovechkin “C” (Washington Capitals)
F Sebastian Aho (Carolina Hurricanes)
F Claude Giroux (Philadelphia Flyers)
F Jack Hughes (New Jersey Devils)
F Chris Kreider (New York Rangers)
D Adam Fox (New York Rangers)
D Adam Pelech (New York Islanders)
D Zach Werenski (Columbus Blue Jackets)
G Frederik Andersen (Carolina Hurricanes)
G Tristan Jarry (Pittsburgh Penguins)

Central Division

F Nathan MacKinnon “C” (Colorado Avalanche)
F Kyle Connor (Winnipeg Jets)
F Alex DeBrincat (Chicago Blackhawks)
F Kirill Kaprizov (Minnesota Wild)
F Clayton Keller (Arizona Coyotes)
F Jordan Kyrou (St. Louis Blues)
F Joe Pavelski (Dallas Stars)
D Cale Makar (Colorado Avalanche)
G Juuse Saros (Nashville Predators)
G Cam Talbot (Minnesota Wild)

Pacific Division

F Connor McDavid “C” (Edmonton Oilers)
F Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton Oilers)
F Jordan Eberle (Seattle Kraken)
F Johnny Gaudreau (Calgary Flames)
F Adrian Kempe (Los Angeles Kings)
F Timo Meier (San Jose Sharks)
F Mark Stone (Vegas Golden Knights)
D Alex Pietrangelo (Vegas Golden Knights)
G Thatcher Demko (Vancouver Canucks)
G John Gibson (Anaheim Ducks)

Snapshots: Three Stars, Penguins, Avalanche

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The NHL has released the Three Stars for last week, and Alex Ovechkin has taken home the top spot once again. The Russian Machine notched his 28th career hat trick and totaled seven points on the week, taking him ahead of Connor McDavid and into second place in the league scoring race. His 19 goals in 22 games (at age-36 no less) have brought him within 145 of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record and has him just 17 behind Jaromir Jagr for third place. With four years left on his new extension and still 60 games left this season, it seems to be a matter of when, not if, Ovechkin will set the NHL record for goals.

Second and third place have been given to Tristan Jarry and Cale Makar respectively, after two more fantastic weeks. Jarry stopped 91 of 93 shots he faced to win all three games for the Pittsburgh Penguins, bringing his overall record to 10-4-3 on the year. The 26-year-old netminder has now played more minutes than any other goalie in the league and has a .936 save percentage on the year. Makar meanwhile is showing once again why he has been a Norris nominee through his first two seasons in the league, as the 23-year-old defenseman now has nine goals and 20 points in 16 games. That’s just two points behind John Carlson for the most by a defenseman, despite having played six fewer games so far and his 1.25 points-per-game rate ties him for sixth among all players (not just defensemen) that have suited up at least ten times.

  • While Jarry has led the Penguins to a better record of late, he might be getting some help soon. Evgeni Malkin was on the ice at practice today in a non-contact sweater, and though there’s still no exact timeline for his return to action, it’s good to see him back with teammates. The 35-year-old hasn’t played yet this season after offseason surgery but would obviously be a huge boost to the Penguins when healthy. That’s especially true now that Bryan Rust has been listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury. He’s not with the team on their current road trip, which starts tonight against the Calgary Flames and lasts through December 10.
  • Speaking of teams that may soon receive help, the Avalanche could have Nathan MacKinnon back on Wednesday according to Peter Baugh of The Athletic, who tweets that though nothing is official, it’s “looking like” the superstar center will return against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Unfortunately, that news also comes with a bad injury update, as Ryan Murray is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury that the team is still evaluating. Murray lasted just 11 seconds before leaving the team’s game against Nashville on Saturday.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Crosby, Shanahan

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The NHL has released their Three Stars for last week, led by a player who could very well go down as the all-time leader in goals by the time he hangs up his skates. Alex Ovechkin added another outstanding week, recording eight points in four games and passing Brett Hull on the all-time goals list. The nine-time Rocket Richard award winner isn’t all goals though, Ovechkin has 14 assists this season for 26 total points through 15 games.

A couple of college hockey stars take second and third, as Charlie McAvoy and Troy Terry have been selected respectively. The Boston Bruins defenseman had seven points in four games while playing basically every second shift, while the Anaheim Ducks forward stretched his point streak to 14 games by adding six more points in three contests. Terry has already matched his career-high of 20 points and it took him only 15 games to do it.

  • If you’re still holding your breath hoping for some supplementary discipline to come down on Sidney Crosby for the incident with Martin Fehervary last night, exhale, it’s not coming. Crosby will not be given any punishment from the league according to Samantha Pell of the Washington Post, who also points out that there was no penalty called on the play in question.
  • The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t had any playoff success under president Brendan Shanahan, but that doesn’t mean his seat is getting hot. As Luke Fox of Sportsnet writes, ownership is still “fantastically supportive” of the Maple Leafs front office boss and the direction he is leading the franchise. Shanahan was hired by the team before the 2014 season; the team has a 275-211-66 regular season record since he took over, but hasn’t made it past the first round even a single time.

Metropolitan Notes: Penguins, Chytil, Raanta, Ovechkin

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Pittsburgh’s recent recall of Louis Domingue may have raised some eyebrows as adding a third goaltender to the roster usually means there’s an injury.  However, that’s not the case for the Penguins, reports Mike DeFabo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  Instead, starting goaltender Tristan Jarry didn’t travel with the team to Ottawa and won’t be in uniform against the Sens as they’ve elected to not have him travel to give him some extra rest but he’s expected to suit up for the Penguins tomorrow night in Washington.  At that point, blueliners Marcus Pettersson and Chad Ruhwedel will also be available to return after being re-added to COVID protocols yesterday for cross-border travel reasons, not another positive test.

More from the Metropolitan:

  • Rangers center Filip Chytil is expected to miss his second straight game tonight versus Columbus as he works his way back from an upper-body injury, notes Mollie Walker of the New York Post. However, it doesn’t appear as if he’ll be out much longer as he skated for a half-hour before practice on Friday which suggests he’s close to returning.  The 22-year-old has two goals and an assist in 12 games this season.
  • Hurricanes goaltender Antti Raanta has resumed skating as he works his way back from a concussion, relays Chip Alexander of the Raleigh News & Observer (Twitter link). The veteran suffered the injury a week ago today against Florida in just his second game of the season.
  • Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin’s goal last night against Columbus moved him into fourth all-time in NHL scoring with 742 tallies. Next up for him to catch is Jaromir Jagr who sits 24 ahead of Washington’s captain.  Ovechkin is off to a hot start to his season with 12 goals and 12 assists in just 14 games.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Faksa, Rust

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The NHL has announced the Three Stars for week one of the NHL season, and it’s a throwback to years gone by. Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings takes home the top spot after recording four goals and seven points in two games. The Kings’ captain is off to an outstanding start in his 16th season and currently leads the league in both goals and points.

Alex Ovechkin and Steven Stamkos get second and third respectively, after similarly brilliant starts. That means the best players in the league this week were a trio that has 3,174 games in the league and five Stanley Cup championships. For all the talk the last few years about it becoming a young man’s league, Kopitar, Ovechkin, and Stamkos are still performing at an elite level.

  • Dallas Stars forward Radek Faksa has escaped suspension for his slash on Ottawa Senators forward Tim Stutzle, but will have to pay $5,000 in a fine for the incident. That’s the maximum allowable fine under the current CBA, but Faksa won’t have to miss any games. Stutzle, who left the game temporarily, didn’t suffer a major injury on the play, which likely kept a suspension off the table. The incident will be on Faksa’s record though, and considered in any future supplementary discipline.
  • Bryan Rust is out “week-to-week” with a lower-body injury, according to Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan. The Penguins are 2-0-1 through the first three games of the season, first in the NHL despite the absence of several top players. Sidney Crosby won’t play on Tuesday but is approaching a return, and Evgeni Malkin has started a skating program as he continues his rehab. Rust, meanwhile, looks to be out for a little while following his strong start to the season.

Alex Ovechkin Out Day-To-Day With Lower Body Injury

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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Ovechkin left last night’s preseason game against the Philadelphia Flyers when he fell awkwardly after laying a hit on Philadelphia’s Travis Konecny.

Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic notes that Ovechkin was seen walking around the Capitals’ facility this morning without a brace, wrap, or limp.

The fact that Ovechkin is walking around without assistance so soon is extremely promising, especially when considering how dangerous the fall looked at first glance. While his day-to-day status still puts his availability for their home opener against the New York Rangers on Wednesday in doubt, a long-term absence now seems extremely unlikely at this point. Capitals forward Lars Eller had this to say on Ovechkin’s health:

I never seen [the Russian machine] break. And it gets repaired pretty quickly. It’s not broke for long.

If Ovechkin can’t play on opening night, the Capitals would be without their two best forwards. Center Nicklas Backstrom remains sidelined with a hip injury with no timetable for a return.

The 36-year-old Russian enters the 2021-22 campaign with 730 career goals, good enough for sixth all-time and just one goal behind Marcel Dionne, who holds fifth place. Ovechkin had led the league in scoring for seven out of the past nine seasons, only losing out on the Rocket Richard trophy in 2016-17 (Sidney Crosby) and 2020-21 (Auston Matthews).

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