Alex Ovechkin Withdraws From NHL All-Star Game

Despite being elected to the All-Star game as the Metropolitan Division captain, Alex Ovechkin will not be attending the game. The Capitals star withdrew from the event on Wednesday night, citing a nagging lower body injury.

“We have to make the right decision,” Caps head coach Barry Trotz said. “You don’t win a Stanley Cup. You don’t get two points for [the All-Star] game. You get prize money. For us, it’s not about the prize money. We have a bigger goal, and if we want to get to where we want to get to, we can’t do it without Alex Ovechkin being 100 percent.”

The big winger has apparently been struggling with a lower body injury for a while and aggravated it cleaning up after last week’s blizzard.

“We talk about it maybe last couple weeks, and last week it was very serious, should I go, should I not go,” Ovechkin said. “The snowstorm came and it felt like maybe it’s going to help and it doesn’t. [I] clean my house, and it’s my bad decision.”

“It’s basically like if you have injury, you have to do all the treatments to take care of yourself,” he continued. “In a game, sometimes you have to just forget about it and play. Sometimes I just feel not that bad, and sometimes I feel bad and I just kind of settle down and sit on the bench and look at Trotz and say, ‘It’s not that good.’ ”

By rule, Ovechkin will have to sit out his club’s first game after the all-star break for declining the invitation. He will miss next Tuesday’s game against the Florida Panthers but, if the week off helps him stay healthy, the Caps will gladly play one night without him.

Photo: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals shoots and scores his 500th career NHL goal in the second period against the Ottawa Senators at the Verizon Center on January 10, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

Article by Joe Kozlowski