image: TSN

The Washington Capitals player appears to have suffered a right knee injury which will be evaluated overnight.  The problem arose from a knee-on-knee collision with Carolina Hurricanes defenceman, Tim Gleason, during the first period.

I know that they are playing it down by saying he’s stiff and sore right now but he had to be helped off the ice after being on the ice for a few minutes.  He was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct (for the second time in three games!).

I’m sure the Caps are hoping their cash cow is okay.  So far this year, Ovie has 18 goals, 30 points and 44 penalty minutes.  You won’t be surprised to learn that he’s leading the team.

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Ironically, both of the incidents occurred while playing opposite Buffalo at the Verizon Center (last time was after he hit Daniel Briere from behind on December 2, 2006 – almost the exact same time of year too!).

image: TSN

“I just go take a hit and (Kaleta) just fell into the boards. … Max, it’s got to be 2 minutes,” Ovechkin said.  Uh huh…

In case you missed it, here’s a video of the hit.  Some people want him to get a suspension but I’m not sure it warrants all of that.  I think being ejected was good enough but you can decide for yourselves:

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image: TSN

He still leads the league with 14 goals in 14 games and also has nine assists.

I’m sure the Caps, and their fans, are trying not to panic too much but they lost to the New Jersey Devils this past weekend and are now 1-4-0 without Ovie (since the 2005-2006 season).

It was bound to happen, though.  Almost every player has suffered some sort of injury in their career and this could be the first major setback that the Russian star has experienced.

Hopefully, it’s nothing serious and he’ll be back on the ice in no time but I don’t actually think his absence is a bad thing either.  Sometimes it’s good for a team to be without their “superstar” since they really can rely too heavily on a single guy.  Looking at their stats without him, I can’t help but think they need to develop the rest of the team a little more so maybe they will do that as Ovie recuperates.

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image: Zuma Press

After falling to the ice, the Russian player stood up and appeared to be in pain.  A team spokesman said that Ovechkin had suffered some sort of upper body injury and is currently being listed as day-to-day.

I know there are other players for the Caps to rely on but no one wants to lose a player like Ovechkin, who went into Sunday’s game with a league-leading 14 goals and 23 points.

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In case you haven’t heard, that jackass of a commissioner, Gary Bettman, has hinted at the possibility that the NHL will not be sending players to the Olympics after the 2010 games in Vancouver.  Meanwhile, the NHLPA has shown unwavering support for continued participation.

With the 2014 Winter games taking place in Sochi, Russia, there’s no way that I would expect this Russian superstar to refuse to play for his country.  “Nobody can say to me you can’t play for your country in the Olympic Games,” Ovechkin said. “I don’t care.  I’ll go play in the Olympic Games for my country. If somebody says to me you can’t play, see ya.”

Is Bettman hell-bent on destroying this sport?  It just doesn’t make any sense to me that we’ve gotten to the point where a player is forced to choose between playing in the NHL and representing their country in the Olympics.  It’s silly and dumb, actually.

image: TSN

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image: Zuma Press

Russian interviewer, Sophie Shevardnadze, asked him “How do you prepare for the game? Is it true that you can’t have sex before the match?” and he answered “sex really helps, actually.”  So she followed up by asking “is that before or after the match?” and he said “before and after.”  Ha ha ha ha!  He also said that he misses “Russian beauties” and said that American girls can’t compare to them.  Wow!

He also said that he doesn’t care when people call him “Alexander the Great,” he found it flattering when President Barack Obama said that he was happy to share a city with Ovechkin (Washington) and how Russian hockey is different from Canadian hockey (he says the Russians are more technical and more lucky).

It’s an interesting interview.  You gotta watch it:

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Meanwhile, Alexander Ovechkin has been chosen to front the NHL 2K10 game. 

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The game will be released this fall for Wii, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 2 and PC.  Aside from that, there aren’t many details about the game floating around although I can pretty much promise that it will be about hockey…

image: 2K Sports

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Of course, he also had a fantastic season, finishing with 56 goals which is 10 better than any other player in the league.   Ever humble, Ovechkin said: "I’m proud of my country. It’s always nice to be No. 1."

While he was accepting the Pearson trophy, he mentioned that it was a tough year for his family after the loss of his grandfather.  Watch the acceptance speech:

image: NHL.com

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I seriously cannot imagine getting up in a room full of people on a televised event and having to give an acceptance speech in a language that I barely know.  Just think of the Oscars – most of the winners only speak English and they struggle.

To make light of the situation, Ovechkin joked Malkin "is better than Pavel Datsyuk’s English."  That got some laughs!

image: NHL.com

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