News Article: Alex Ovechkin Played Through a Lower-Body Injury, "Pain-Numbing Injections."

[EroCaps]

I don't think anyone who's played a high intensity contact sport or had an injury like that would call it an "excuse". Especially since he didn't even tell anyone until after the playoffs were over.

They're all injured. Crosby, a player with a concussion history, missed 1 game and contributed in Game 7.

Where are we going with this information?

Ovechkin as team leader has presided over 10 years of playoff runs and never advanced past the 2nd round.

I get it, it's a team sport, but at a certain point you've just got to call a spade a spade.

 

[905PENS]

As a outside ovie fan, I feel he didn't hit his top gear all season. I don't think it has to do with his age.. But more his playing stile. He never has, and likely never will be a 200 foot player.. He's been trying bis best to be that. He's a scoring juggernaut and one of the best of all time. As for his injury.... Anyone who's watched more than one Capitals game knows he wasn't the same after the that kadri hit. I never like seeing players hurt, and am thankful its not a serous injury. Unfortunately, it cost him what could have been his year to win the cup. I feel like he will have a major rebound year next year.

I ussualy only get to watch about 25 - 30 caps games a year tho. So, it's a small sample size

 

[Jacoby4HOF66]

Its not about excuses to me and more about at what point should a player of OV's caliber realize he isn't helping the team by playing with an injury like that? Or is it on the coaches and training staff?

As I said before, Hockey players are the toughest bad ***** is professional sports, but it appears to me this time OV's toughness may have negatively impacted the team. This isn't basketball where a player like Willis Reed can come out on one leg and lead his team to a championship. A hockey players legs are their most important body part. And OV was playing with 1 and 1/2 of his legs at least for the entire PIT series.

He should of sat for a player with no injured legs. This years team was built to minimize the load on OV. It should of been able to compete and win without him for an extended period of time.

 

[RandyHolt]

Ironically, one of the few times he looked himself this season, was after the Kadri hit, but maybe he had healed up. His ES goal vs Pitt, game 6 I believe. His old move. Very old move. But we saw that Ovi jump, and it's like we had warped back 7 years.

 

[Acallabeth]

Its not about excuses to me and more about at what point should a player of OV's caliber realize he isn't helping the team by playing with an injury like that? Or is it on the coaches and training staff?

As I said before, Hockey players are the toughest bad ***** is professional sports, but it appears to me this time OV's toughness may have negatively impacted the team. This isn't basketball where a player like Willis Reed can come out on one leg and lead his team to a championship. A hockey players legs are their most important body part. And OV was playing with 1 and 1/2 of his legs at least for the entire PIT series.

He should of sat for a player with no injured legs. This years team was built to minimize the load on OV. It should of been able to compete and win without him for an extended period of time.

I don't believe it was an injury that held him back that much. He played like trash through the entire regular season, was pretty awful in the beginning of the Toronto series and ended up barely being a benefit after all the injuries. Ovechkin barely skating in elimination games is of no use, whether he's healthy or injured. Boudreau was fired after Ovechkin played one game like that.

 

[Stewie G]

I know Ovechkin played poorly overall, but if the shot that hit the shaft of Fleury's stick goes in, the stories would all be completely different. An inch or so either direction and that puck is in the back of the net, the Caps take the lead, and the complexion of the game changes completely. Redemption from the missed breakaway, monkey off their back, etc., etc. But... Caps.

 

[BTCG]

Has anyone here actually played sports beyond mites or pee wee? Are any of you older than Ovechkin and facing the daily bumps and bruises and mystery pains that come along with being an aging athlete? Have you been through surgeries or physical therapy? I think a few of you fit this description but I'm guessing most don't. It sounds preachy but unless you've been through these things you're just stabbing at the air with theoretical armchair analysis of things that really require day to day experience.

The modern approach is to keep active as much as possible and get active as soon as possible in order to retain strength and mobility/ROM. It's very hard for a professional athlete--especially a high priced team captain--to take time off to completely heal. Only during an injury's acute phase do you rest and hope to reduce pain and swelling. After that you may be impaired but you're still supposed to be active.

It's also very hard to distinguish between what's "Oh **** I need to stop and let this heal" injury vs the inevitable aches and pains that go along with the package. Some things go away, others don't. You can't just lie in bed all day for 2 weeks and BING your health bar is full like some video game character that's found a rest point. There is ALWAYS something wrong, and it's often hard to pin down.

It's not difficult to imagine several lingering injuries affecting Ovechkin all year, and then becoming magnified in the playoffs following the trauma of a hit like Kadri's. Having your knee joint bent backwards is going to put a violent strain on your opposing muscles, like the hamstring which may be fatigued or damaged from a long season. Playing on that for a few more games or weeks is going to impair recovery and make a tear more likely.

I played softball until I was 50 yrs old- I turned a triple play in my last game pitching!

 

[Brian23]

Ironically, one of the few times he looked himself this season, was after the Kadri hit, but maybe he had healed up. His ENG goal vs Pitt, game 6 I believe. His old move. Very old move. But we saw that Ovi jump, and it's like we had warped back 7 years.

That was very much vintage Ovi, power move to the middle and going hard, and then putting in, his own rebound.

 

[RandyHolt]

That was very much vintage Ovi, power move to the middle and going hard, and then putting in, his own rebound.

I don't get it.

Either he has lost his speed, or he hasn't. Sure looked like he hadn't.

Either he doesn't want to do his move anymore, or he was told to stop trying.

If he gets his ~10 points before our annual R2G7 loss, most seem content that he is not a problem. He seems a hot mess to me. He seems more demoralized than the year before's loss, maybe more than us fans. He coasts through the RS only to get a hamstring. Gets demoted down to 3, and then we see his old move. Regresses a game later racking up a -2...

Barry needs to use Ovi better and it starts by separating he and Nick IMO. Their great chemistry at ES vanished many years ago.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

I've been very critical of Ovechkin since our defeat. I was very upset by the result, because I thought he could make a difference despite being injured.

Well, karma hit me yesterday and I got my knee blown out playing hockey. It wasn't the same play, my knee just buckled sideways when I was standing on one leg to shoot the ball. Seeing how I could barely get up and walk after the hit, it got me thinking about how Ovi kept playing despite having his knee blown out.

Now I know how painful it is, and I won't be playing hockey for a while. I take back everything I said

 

[g00n]

I've been very critical of Ovechkin since our defeat. I was very upset by the result, because I thought he could make a difference despite being injured.

Well, karma hit me yesterday and I got my knee blown out playing hockey. It wasn't the same play, my knee just buckled sideways when I was standing on one leg to shoot the ball. Seeing how I could barely get up and walk after the hit, it got me thinking about how Ovi kept playing despite having his knee blown out.

Now I know how painful it is, and I won't be playing hockey for a while. I take back everything I said

That sucks, man. And big of you to cop to it.

I've had plenty of knee problems so I empathize with you both. Even when you come back it's still not the same. For Ovie to play through it all and not even complain, and then people rank on him for the pic his wife posted later as some kind of selfish excuse, it makes me sick.

 

[RandyHolt]

Bummer about the knee.

I will share my knee story. Hiking with a heavy backpack, in tall grass stepped into a small hole and buckled my knee. Hyper extended it a day later. Limped for 3 days using beer as meds and googled once i got home.

RICE to the rescue. I thought for sure I needed surgery but did rest ice compression and elevation for 3 days religiously, and the pain went away. Going up or down stairs, good leg does all the heavy work, one step at a time. ACE bandage. Walk slow everywhere. Foot up on the couch with the knee higher than my heart. Ice gel pack before work, as soon as I got home, before bed, as often as possible. No heating pad.

I share all this because if it didn't happen to me, I wouldn't believe it would work - and to prevent anyone else that thinks they may need surgery. The pain in my knee was only about a 2-3 out of 10 scale, but it was persistent and I was certain I was going under the knife.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

I've been very critical of Ovechkin since our defeat. I was very upset by the result, because I thought he could make a difference despite being injured.

Well, karma hit me yesterday and I got my knee blown out playing hockey. It wasn't the same play, my knee just buckled sideways when I was standing on one leg to shoot the ball. Seeing how I could barely get up and walk after the hit, it got me thinking about how Ovi kept playing despite having his knee blown out.

Now I know how painful it is, and I won't be playing hockey for a while. I take back everything I said

Sounds similar to how I hurt my knee in racquetball years ago. On one foot making a shot, leg buckled sideways. I was so shocked I was showing my playing partner after it happened how I was standing on one leg and it buckled again. Knee swelled, partial tear only thankfully. Had it scoped and back playing in 6 months. Goon is right though....is never the same again. Get well!