After Russia was eliminated from the World Championships in Helsinki on Thursday, a league source told The Washington Post’s Katie Carrera that Alex Ovechkin suffered a hairline fracture in his foot after blocking a shot in game six. Late Thursday, as the Russian national team landed in Moscow, Ovi was photographed in the terminal by R-Sport with his luggage, including a walking boot. Poor guy.

If Maria wants to make wedding plans, this is the time to do it. He’s hobbled; he can’t run away!

11:30AM Update: Ovechkin has tweeted a photo with himself wearing the boot.

Thanks to the awesome tumbleblog varlysuperfan for first posting.

Ovechkin speaks to the media at Kettler on Tuesday. (Photo credit: Alex Brandon)

Alex Ovechkin played in 86 games between the NHL and KHL this year. Though the season was lockout-shortened, several Capitals stars were still bruised and battered. Nick Backstrom injured his neck in Russia, Brooks Laich injured his groin in Switzerland, and various others dropped off along the way. We know now Ovi was playing through some sort of injury as well.

“Of course, there were aches and pains,” he told Slava Malamud of Sport-Express in Russian after game seven Monday. “Won’t say anything about needles, but injuries are always there. There were enough hits and physical play.”

So when did this all happen? Well, Ovi didn’t play well during the latter half of Washington’s first round loss to the New York Rangers; no one on the Capitals did. Despite scoring a goal in game one and notching an assist in game two, Ovi was held off the scoresheet for the rest of the series. At times during games three and four in New York, he was invisible. He did pick up his play towards the end of the series, but by then, it was too late.

As Ian already argued, there’s reason to believe Ovi may have been hurt (or conceivably aggravated something) in game three. As Ovechkin carried the puck into the Rangers’ zone during the first period, Rangers defenseman Aaron Stralman caught Ovi awkwardly along the boards with a hip check. Ovechkin had trouble getting up and labored in his strides back to the bench.

The Great Eight, insists that this didn’t injure him.

“I was ready physically,” he said of the series, again to Slava. “It wasn’t [Stralman's hit], [the injury] actually didn’t even happen in game three.”

You have to wonder if whatever ailment Ovechkin was struggling through, changed the course of the Capitals/Rangers series after Washington took a commanding 2-0 lead after games one and two.

Anyway, this season is done now. The Capitals lost. The summer has begun. Ovi has thoughts on that too.

“The most important thing is to re-sign Ribs,” he told Malamud. “It will be tough without him. Whether Kuzya can come next season or not, I have no idea. I am not going to advise him or tell him to drop everything and run here. He has his own head on his shoulders. He isn’t a 17-year-old kid anymore.”

Thanks to Slava Malamud for sharing these quotes with us. Follow this man on Twitter.

Additional reporting by Ian Oland.

Photo credit: The Washington Times’ Stephen Whyno

Washington Capitals do-it-all forward Brooks Laich hasn’t skated since February 16, so today was sort of a milestone. Via The Washington Times’ Stephen Whyno, Laich, donning shorts and sneakers, did some stick-handling and passing drills with General Manager George McPhee’s son, Graham, after today’s Caps practice. Katie Carrera also has a photo of Laich on the ice today too.

Laich has not played for the Capitals at all this season since suffering a groin injury while with the Kolten Flyers of Swiss National League A. The Caps assistant captain was cleared for contact on February 13, but after a few days of hard skating, the team shut him down. Since then, Laich has been doing off-ice workouts to try and build strength back up.

“It’s been the hardest thing I think I’ve ever gone through in my hockey career,” Laich told reporters in February. “It’s the passion in my life to play hockey, and when that gets taken away from you it’s really tough to take and really frustrating.”

A week ago during CSN’s Caps Central, analyst Alan May wondered aloud if Laich would even be able to come back at all this season.

While that’s not a promising thought to entertain, we at least have photo evidence that he’s alive and has even touched a hockey stick.

Get well soon, Brooksy. You are missed.

Photo credit: @recordsANDradio

One day in 7th grade, I was playing basketball at recess with some friends. After I missed a layup, one of my female friends made fun of me and I called her a not-so-nice word. She responded by tapping me on the shoulder and then kicking me in the business. The next three hours were spent in the nurse’s room, wailing and applying an ice pack to my nether regions.

On Tuesday night, Washington Capitals forward Matt Hendricks did everything I couldn’t back in middle school. His grit on full display for the 168th game in a row, Hendricks broke his nose during a second period scrum and didn’t miss a shift. Instead of yelping in the corner like a normal human, Hendricks had a superb game in which he put two shots on goal, had five blocks, and won three of four face-offs.

Spotted by the media after a practice in Tampa Wednesday, Hendricks showed off his stitches and guessed at how many times his nose had been recalibrated.

Matt Hendricks has stitches, broken nose after some chippiness in 2nd vs Fla. Asked him how many times he’s broken it: “Five that I know of”

— Katie Carrera (@kcarrera) February 13, 2013

When head coach Adam Oates was asked if he was impressed about Hendy’s toughness, he replied,”You know the hockey player reputation. I expect that from everybody.”

(Doesn’t make it any less dumbfounding to us normal people.)

Since becoming a Capital, Hendricks has had some gnarly injuries. Let’s review the highlights.

Hendy Sports Black Eye, Stitches on 24/7

After taking cheap shots from now-retired Sean Avery after a fight, Hendricks’ sported a black eye and had his cheek burst open from a cut. Here’s him looking at the camera in 2010 during HBO’s 24/7.

Hendy’s Ear Gets Ripped

During practice, an errant Alex Ovechkin shot ripped the top of Hendricks’ right ear in half. Hendricks explains via this Mike Vogel story:

“It hit me and it was kind of surprising,” says Hendricks. “It felt like somebody came up and hit me in the head with a baseball bat. It stunned me. I realized I was bleeding and pain was setting in. I knew it wasn’t good. I was pretty upset. I was thinking of all the worst possible injuries I could have had and I was hoping that it wasn’t going to be that bad.”

Hendricks didn’t miss a game. For a picture of how the ear looked ripped in half, go here (and make sure you haven’t just recently eaten).

Hendricks Gets Punched in the Face Repeatedly

Since turning a tryout into a full-time roster spot in 2010-11, Hendricks has led the team in fights, dropping mitts the 29 times. Not all of those bouts have gone as great as Hendy’s blind knockout of Steve Downie. On January 23, Hendricks and Jets heavy-weight enforcer Chris Thorburn did battle. Thorburn caught Hendricks with a few haymakers.

But that’s just another day in the office for The Paralyzer.

Photo credit: khl.ru

On Tuesday morning, far-flung Caps players reunited at Kettler Capitals Iceplex for an informal practice session. Present but not skating was the team’s star center, Nick Backstrom. Backstrom has not played since late December, when he took a hit from behind in a Dynamo Moscow game. According to SportsBox.ru, a doctor in Moscow said the injury was just a bruise, but Backstrom’s agent has since said his player’s status may be week-to-week.

On Tuesday night, we learned that Backstrom is visiting a specialist in Michigan.

On Wednesday, the Capitals confirmed the news:

Nick and his agent informed us that they are being proactive with his injury and decided to visit a specialist prior to training camp. Obviously, as you know until camp officially starts teams cannot perform physicals on any player.

We don’t have information on what kind of specialist Backstrom is visiting or the precise nature of his injury. It does behoove us to remark that Sidney Crosby traveled to Michigan to visit a concussion specialist during his own recovery.

Visiting a specialist may indicate that Backstrom’s injury is more significant than previously reported. Losing Backstrom for any portion of the upcoming shortened season would hurt the Capitals’ chances to win, and that’s just a secondary concern after the health issues of the player himself.

Additional reporting by Ian Oland.

Dima sits with the other Bears scratches during Saturday’s Bears game. (Photo credit: Katie Stansbery)

When Dmitry Orlov came out of the tunnel for the AHL Showcase game last month, he was excited to see fans back at Verizon Center. It was the reason why, in his opinion, he played the best hockey of his season. The AHL gamesheet says that the 21-year-old defenseman recorded two shots on goal that first period, but Dima remembered it being closer to four or five.

Unfortunately, as he confirmed to me on Saturday night during the first intermission of the Bears/Senators game, Orlov suffered an injury after absorbing a hit from Emerson Etem. Due to team policy, Orlov would not reveal the nature or location of his injury.

After spending two weeks recovering, Orlov has begun riding an exercise bike and lifting weights. According to Hershey Bears head coach Mark French, Orlov is close to getting back on the ice for practice again.

“He’s still not skating,” French told me after the Bears 3-1 loss to the Binghamton Senators. “We hope in the next week we can get him back on the ice and start getting his conditioning to a level that we might see him back in the line-up in the future.”

With the lockout now over, Orlov will most likely return to Arlington for training camp where his status will be further evaluated, just like injured first-line center Nicklas Backstrom, whose agent told us is week-to-week with a “bruised neck.”

When I asked Orlov how tough it would be to skate after a month-plus-long layoff, Orlov squeezed his non-existent belly fat, laughed, and told me in English,”it will be very difficult.” He’s hopeful he will be ready for Opening Night in a few weeks. Fingers crossed.

Photo credit: Ian iPad

Photo credit: Jordan Tenenbaum

On December 6th, the Verizon Center hosted the AHL Showcase between the Hershey Bears and Norfolk Admirals. Due to the lockout, it was the first hockey game played in Washington since May 9th, when two current Bears were playing with the Capitals: Braden Holtby and Dmitry Orlov.

While Holtby dominated in the Bears 2-1 victory during the Showcase, Orlov made it through just the first period before leaving the game due to injury. Since then, Orlov has missed ten games– a month’s worth of action. Bears radio announcer and PR man Scott Stuccio told RMNB on Thursday night that the Novokuznetsk-native is not close to returning yet.

With the departure of veteran defenseman Dennis Wideman over the offseason, Orlov was expected to play big minutes on the Capitals third defensive pairing this season. Instead, he’s nursing what seems to be a long-term injury with a possible NHL season nearing. Few details have emerged on what Orlov’s injury is.

To try to figure out what’s going on, I reviewed tape of the AHL Showcase to see if I could pinpoint when and where the injury occurred. After re-watching the first period, I came to a few conclusions.

• Orlov did not leave  a shift early.
• Orlov had no apparent limp and did not favor a leg.
• On Orlov’s second to last shift, he absorbed a body check from two players.

With 4:47 left in the first period, Orlov led the Bears into Norfolk’s offensive zone. As the 21-year-old defenseman cut to the middle of the ice, he passed to a teammate. Then, six-foot four-inch, 250-lbs. Emerson Etem saw the play developing and prepare to hit Orlov. As the two players’ bodies met near the slot, Etem put his shoulder under Orlov’s chin, sending him airborne. Chris Wagner, trailing on the play, then collided with the airborne Orlov, cross-checking him in the head. Orlov fell to the ice, but quickly got up as the referees blew the play dead.

Photo Sequence of the Hit

Zoomed-In Shots

Orlov returned for one final shift, a penalty kill at the end of the first period. On that shift, he tried to block a Patrick Maroon shot from the perimeter. Maroon’s stick appears to get close to striking Orlov’s helmet, but after reviewing replays, I don’t think it hit him.

Orlov then skated off for a shift change, no worse for wear. After going into the Bears locker room, he did not emerge for the second period and has been scratched since.

Photo credit: Dynamo.ru

Playing overseas may keep some NHL players in top form during the lockout but the dreams of their general managers are haunted by a nightmare scenario — a serious injury to a star player.

Last Wednesday, Nicklas Backstrom was involved in frightening episode, in which he was checked from behind while playing for Dynamo Moscow. Backstrom, who missed three months last season with a concussion, went headfirst into the boards and left the game after trying to play one more shift. Dynamo called the injury a “neck bruise” and said the pivot should be good to go by the next game. As of the weekend, Backstrom saw at least two doctors, and a Russian newspaper report speculated that Nicky had traveled to America due to the injury’s severity. According to Nicky’s Swedish agent, Gunnar Svensson, that’s not true.

“Nicklas has not traveled to [the] US,” he said in a email to RMNB. “That’s wrong.”

“Nicklas has what you say — bruised neck,” Svensson added. “Hard to say about the recovery time. Day to day, maybe week to week.”

Marc Levine, Backstrom’s American agent, declined to comment.

The new recovery timeframe raises the possibility Backstrom may not be ready when — or if — the NHL season gets underway. With the drop-dead date in the league’s labor negotiations set for January 11, the season might get started around the 19th. If Nicky’s injury turns out to be on the long side of the expected healing time, he could miss the Capitals training camp and regular-season games. Washington is also dealing with an unspecified injury to Dmitry Orlov, who has not played for Hershey in almost a month.

The Caps could be back to playing hockey less than three weeks from now — it just might not be with all of their players.

“Owwie!” (Photo credit: championat.com)

Almost one year ago to the day, Calgary Flames’ winger Rene Bourque elbowed Nicklas Backstrom in the side of the head, forcing the Capitals number-one center to the sidelines for three months with a concussion. The Capitals struggled in his absence, but 40 games later, after being magically healed by Tiesto, Backstrom returned for the playoff push and suffered no apparent setbacks.

On Wednesday, Backstrom fans got another scare when Nicklas took an awkward second period hit from Milan Kytnár during Dynamo’s 2-1 (SO) win over Slovan.

As Backstrom tries to spin while forechecking, Kytnár checks Backstrom in the numbers, forcing Nicky to fall head-first into the boards. The side of Backstrom’s head and neck takes the brunt of the hit. Nicky then slowly picks himself up off the ice and skates gingerly towards the bench.

Backstrom would take one more shift and then call it a day. After icing his neck with Dynamo’s head trainer on the bench, Backstrom would go off to the locker room.

SportsBox.ru’s Dinara Kafiskina is reporting that after being fully examined by Dynamo doctor Valery Konov, Backstrom is not seriously hurt. The doctor says that Backstrom has a neck bruise and should be able to dress on Friday against Lev.

Phew!

Translation by Fedor Fedin.

Update 1:50pm: Traktor’s website says Kuznetsov should only miss a week’s worth of time and will be ready to play in the KHL’s Gagarin Cup playoffs on March 1st.

In the final minutes of Traktor’s 2-1 win over Spartak, Caps prospect Evgeny Kuznetsov was checked by defender Andre Benoit near the corner boards. According to Soviet Sport’s Pavel Lysenkov, Kuznetsov was badly injured on the play. He “fell down, was yelling, slamming hands against the ice, and was in terrible pain.”

The 19-year-old KHL superstar was then stretchered off and taken to a hospital for a MRI.

After the game, Traktor coach Valeri Belousov told the media that Kuznetsov may be done for the year.

Video of the hit that caused Kuzya’s injury can be seen below the jump.

According to his Russian agent, Kuznetsov has only a bruise and will be out three weeks. We should note that Kuznetsov’s agent is not a medical professional and has an obvious financial interest in pending contract negotiations for his client.

An accurate MRI may have to wait a few days, and swelling may complicate matters.

The Washington Times’ Stephen Whyno also reports that Kuznetsov’s North American agent, Jay Grossman, has no details on the extent of the injury yet. “Obviously, looked like a flagrant hit on knee,” Grossman wrote to Whyno. “In lots of pain.”

We’ll continue to update this post as we find out more.

Additional reporting by Fedor Fedin.