I'm betting Ovie is out more like 3-4 weeks so he'd miss about 10-12 games.  Then, he'll need to get back in game shape.  This was really unfortunate.

Just announced, the Caps have called up Miroshnichenko from Hershey to presumably fill an empty left wing slot.


The Caps obviously had yesterday off, I’m curious if this call was made yesterday so Miro was here for practice this morning.

Not a surprising move, but where does he slot?  It appears that lines 2 and 4 will remain intact, so I don't think McMichael is moving into Ovie's spot.


There's talk of Mangiapane moving up to 1LW, which would leave Vrana/Miro/Lapierre as potential wingers for Eller.


Alternatively, one could just slot Miro at 1LW, not disrupting anything else.  OR move Vrana to 1LW to reward him for his recent good play, and have Miro/Mangiapane flanking Eller.

Dont forget that Ovi's father died early last season.   Whilst most people blamed Ovi's performance on Ole Father Time, I think it was more to do with him mourning his father.  He wasnt himself at all last season.

His resurgence this season shows he's back to his old form, or dare I say it, even better.   It's like he has something to prove.

My only concern is him maybe coming back too early, not fully recovered and nursing that injury for the rest of the season.

NHL.com saying Ovie is "week to week".   Would rather have lost the game.

   




Ugh.  I feel as if I have to take some responsibility here.


A couple of weeks ago I commented, just when Ovie started scoring, that I thought he needed one more of his hot streaks to make passing Gretzky basically a done deal.  Lo and behold, he's now scored 13 goals in the last 11 games, leaving him needing 27 more to break the record.  I also said that under those circumstances, then the only thing that could stop him was serious injury.


And now, here we are.  It isn't just the lost time; when Ovie returns he will be out of shape, and all the momentum he has will be gone.  It wouldn't be at all surprising if the last half of this season for him (if he returns that soon) will be a rerun of the first half of the 2023/24 season, leaving him maybe 20 or so short of Gretzky.  Eminently doable next year, but no lead pipe cinch - one more injury could derail him.   


Ovie has been exceedingly fortunate with injury throughout his career.  But Father Time IS undefeated.

Technically, Utah is a brand new NHL Franchise and they simply bought the assets from the Coyotes....but as far as history or records or whatever...this is a NEW team, so there is no affiliation with the Coyotes....(other than they bought all their players n shit)

They're drawing like 11K a game.  They won't be there very long if that keeps up.