Alex Ovechkin Returning for Capitals vs. Maple Leafs 40 Days After Broken Leg Injury

Alex Ovechkin is set to return to game action just 40 days after fracturing his left leg.

Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery announced that Ovechkin will play in the Caps' road game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

Ovechkin returned to full practice on Friday, per NHL.com's Tom Gulitti.

Carbery later said the team would determine Ovechkin's availability depending on how his leg reacted to the practice.

Ovechkin is now set to rejoin Dylan Strome and Aliaksei Protas on the Capitals' top line, while slotting in alongside Strome, John Carlson, Jakob Chychrun and Tom Wilson on the club's top power-play unit.

Ovechkin has missed 16 games since suffering a fractured left fibula after a leg-on-leg collision during a Nov. 18 game against the Utah Hockey Club.

The stretch marked one of the longest injury absences of his career. Prior to the fracture Ovechkin had missed just 35 games due to injury, and 59 games total, through the first 19 seasons of his NHL career.

The Capitals have historically struggled with their captain sidelined, with the franchise having marked a 26-28-5 record without Ovechkin prior to the season.

This time around, offseason additions including Strome and Chychrun helped the Caps stay at the top of the Metropolitan Division with a 10-5-1 mark in Ovechkin's absence.

The return of Ovechkin, who had 15 goals and 25 points in 18 games to start the season, will make the Capitals a legitimate challenger to beat out top teams including the New Jersey Devils, Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs in the race to the top of the East.

His comeback also marks the resumption of his bid to beat out Wayne Gretzky for the NHL goalscoring record. Gretzky currently holds the all-time title after scoring 894 times between 1979 and 1999.

Ovechkin had scored twice against Utah before suffering his injury, bringing his career total to 868 goals. He sits 26 tallies shy of Gretzky's record with 48 games remaining in the Capitals' season heading into Saturday.