Ovechkin leaves training camp early with lower-body injury, dodges retirement rumors

The Russian Machine never breaks, but it may take a bit longer to start up this year.

Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time leading goal-scorer, left early on Washington’s first day of training camp practice Thursday with a lower-body injury.

One day after turning 40, Ovechkin briefly took the ice before returning to the locker room. He did not join teammates for the annual skate test or subsequent drills.

Speaking with reporters, he downplayed his age, the injury and retirement rumors.

“[Feels the] same,” Ovechkin said of being a 40-year-old entering his 21st season. “Just the number changed.”

Capitals coach Spencer Carbery was unconcerned about the injury, calling Ovechkin’s absence “precautionary” as the winger is “day-to-day.” The captain could return to practice as soon as Friday.

Washington’s third-year coach has already seen Ovechkin’s eager approach to the upcoming season.

“He loves the game. … I would bet dollars to donuts that the first goal he scores this year is going to have the same reaction, just like the rest of his career,” Carbery said of Ovechkin. “Even though he passed Wayne [Gretzky] and has the all-time record, I think he’ll be hungry as ever.”

A slew of familiar faces joined Ovechkin for the first day of camp. Alternate captains John Carlson and Tom Wilson rounded out the leadership group as the final players remaining from the 2018 Stanley Cup-winning squad.

The older players, including 35-year-old Nic Dowd, sprinted across the ice for their final annual skate test.

Teams won’t be able to conduct the preseason staple next season due to a change in the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement.

“That was tough,” Dowd said of the test, which is designed to measure players’ fitness ahead of the season. “I think as I get older, it gets harder.”

The rest of the first week isn’t much easier. Training camp is a steep step up in intensity from the summer’s informal skates.

“Just trying not to throw up. Get through it. It’s a bagger,” goalie Logan Thompson said. “Let’s get the lungs back.”

As younger players caught their breath after practice, they reflected on Ovechkin, who is still the oldest player on the team. If he can complete 20 training camps, surely they can survive the grueling first week.

“His mentality and his physical perseverance, just to keep going and do what he’s doing, there’s really no words to describe it,” Wilson said. “I don’t think anybody in that dressing room will be talking about playing when they’re 40, let alone scoring 44 goals and broken leg and all that stuff last year. He’s a machine.”

The retirement rumors circling Ovechkin are hard to ignore, though. The three-time MVP has said in the past that he’d retire from the NHL when his current contract ends.

Comments from his wife and the Capitals’ ticket office caused retirement rumors to heat up this offseason, though. The team sent an email to season-ticket holders urging them to claim their spot for Ovechkin’s final games as a Capital.

Ovechkin’s wife, Anastasia Ovechkina, told Russian media outlet aif.ru that the family would “stay in Russia” after next season.

The Ovechkins and the Capitals later walked back their comments, clarifying that no decision has been made regarding the 13-time All-Star’s future.

For now, Ovechkin insists that he isn’t thinking about his expiring contract or potential retirement.

The 12-time All-Star said he isn’t approaching this year as a farewell tour, even if the league is putting six of Washington’s seven games on national television.

“I don’t know if this is going to be [my] last. We’ll see,” Ovechkin said Thursday.

His teammates will hold onto him for as long as they can.

“No one will really think about him not being around here until it smacks us all in the face,” Wilson said.

Most of the players on Washington’s roster saw Ovechkin’s improbable run last season first-hand. The Capitals are returning 20 players from last year’s squad, including the top eight goal-scorers and the top nine point producers.

The Capitals are ready to pick up where they left off.

“We have a great group of guys. We have guys that know when to have fun and when to relax and when to make jokes,” center Pierre-Luc Dubois said. “But we have a lot of competitive players on this team. Nobody likes to lose.”

But Washington isn’t looking for a repeat of last year, when the squad topped the Eastern Conference in points before flaming out in the second round of the playoffs.

A lone playoff series win — the franchise’s first since the 2018 Stanley Cup Final — won’t be enough this year.

The time is ticking for players like Carlson and Ovechkin to make another run at a championship. Their contracts expire after the season.

“I’m not done yet, but I don’t have 10 years left either,” Carlson said Thursday.

The Capitals open the preseason against the Boston Bruins on Sunday. Washington’s regular season begins Oct. 8 with a home game against the Bruins.