RED ALERT: Ovechkin's a jokester

Washington Capitals nation was alarmed to the max on Sunday when word came out of a Yahoo Sports interview with Alexander Ovechkin in which Ovechkin said he would likely miss 4 to 5 weeks.  The Washington Capitals organization quickly disputed the report.

Word now is that Ovechkin’s comments were a joke and the reality is, he will likely miss a week and could possibly make a return to the ice this coming weekend.

“I wish it was going to be tomorrow,” said Ovechkin, who suffered a strain near his left shoulder eight days ago. “I need to make sure I’m good and my body feels good. Probably a week. We’ll see.”

“This is progress, I think, [and] I’m kind of happy about it,” said Ovechkin, who has missed the past three games, his longest stretch of inactivity since joining the NHL in 2005. “It was no pain. It was easy shots, not hard. I don’t want to rush my body to take some real hard slap shot or wrist shot.”

Ovechkin’s original comment understandably took the Caps off guard.  Why?  because it was a joke.

Alex Ovechkin says he was joking when he told a reporter over the weekend that he could be out more than a month.

Ovechkin, who was quoted by Yahoo! on Saturday night as saying he could miss four or five weeks, insisted his left shoulder was not affected by the still unspecified injury, animatedly flexing the joint and telling reporters with a smile, “The shoulder’s fine, see?”

Nice joke Great 8.  Don’t scare the crap out of us again.

Nylander clears waivers . . .  GM George McPhee had a conversation with Michael Nylander about his situation yesterday after he cleared waivers.  McPhee addresssed Nyaldner no longer practicing with the team.  [Read more →]