Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin will sit out Monday’s preseason game against the Philadelphia Flyers in Hershey, Pa., with a lower-body injury, while longtime NHL forward Kevin Hayes announced his retirement after 12 seasons in the league, NHL.com reported.
Ovechkin, 41, will not play or travel with the Capitals for the Hershey matinee as he is evaluated, according to Russian Machine Never Breaks, the team’s primary independent outlet, and NHL.com’s status report. Ovechkin is entering his 22nd NHL season on a one-year, $4.25-million US contract and is coming off a season in which he became the league’s all-time leading goal-scorer. Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery did not sound alarmed when asked about the injury Monday. “Right now, we’ll see how it goes this week,” Carbery said, according to NHL.com.
Hayes, 34, retires with 805 regular-season games and 445 points (185 goals, 261 assists) across stops with the New York Rangers, Winnipeg Jets, Philadelphia Flyers, St. Louis Blues and Pittsburgh Penguins, NHL.com reported Monday. A first-round pick, 24th overall, by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010, Hayes managed eight points in 28 games with the Penguins last season before a brief stint with Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL. “I can no longer play at the level I am capable of because my body does not allow me to perform at my best,” Hayes said in a statement carried by NHL.com. Pittsburgh defenceman Kris Letang praised him as “an amazing person, a guy that everybody kind of wants to hang around,” per the same report.
Elsewhere around the league, Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly returned to practice with the main group Monday after a virus kept him out of the team’s split-squad preseason opener, TSN reported. Rielly is expected to be available for Wednesday’s split-squad game against the Ottawa Senators.
Closer to home, the Edmonton Oilers’ preseason resumes Tuesday when they visit the Winnipeg Jets at Canada Life Centre for a 5 p.m. MT puck drop, a rematch of Saturday’s 5-2 Oilers win at Rogers Place. The Jets head into the rematch amid goaltending turmoil: Winnipeg suspended Connor Hellebuyck on Sept. 16 for failing to report to training camp, weeks after the Vezina Trophy winner requested a trade, TSN reported. General manager Kevin Cheveldayoff has signalled the Jets intend to hold Hellebuyck to his contract rather than grant the request, telling reporters “a contract is a contract,” according to CTV News.
It’s the second of Edmonton’s four exhibition games this year, with road trips to Vancouver on Thursday and a home date against Calgary on Saturday still to come before the Oilers open the regular season Sept. 29 against the Canucks. No new Oilers trades, injuries or roster moves were reported Monday.
Photo: generic ice hockey arena via Unsplash, Anders Krøgh Jørgensen (not a photo from any game described in this article).
