Report: Kuznetsov nearing return, Ovechkin out?

Some good news / bad news from Caps practice this morning.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Report: Kuznetsov nearing return, Ovechkin out?
Zuma Press

According to a report from NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti, Washington Capitals centre Evgeny Kuznetsov took to the ice with his team today for practice, donning a regular contact jersey for practice. Often injured players will wear red jerseys to indicate to teammates that hitting is off limits, so the fact that Kuznetsov had ditched his red jersey for a white one is encouraging to say the least. It appears as thought he’s inching closer to a return.

Unfortunately, captain Alex Ovechkin was absent for this morning’s practice. This sparked some concern that The Great Eight could be injured, but it appears as though he’s merely taking a “maintenance day” for an upper body injury.

Check it out:


Good news for Capitals:
Evgeny Kuznetsov (upper body) is in a regular jersey for practice today. Working with rest of forwards with skills coach before practice.
Bad news for Capitals:
Alex  Ovechkin won't practice today. Maintenance day for an upper body injury.

Suffice it to say if the team were to lose Kuznetsov AND Ovechkin from the lineup, there’d be some serious slack to pick up.

Kuznetsov got off to a ROARING start to the season with six goals and 21 points in 18 games, meanwhile Ovechkin looks on pace to push for 50 goals again this season with 18 goals and 28 points in 24 games.

Source: Tom Gulitti