Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin suffers concussion as the team denies possibility-NHL News
Washington Capitals’ coach, Dale Hunter, was quick to downplay the possibility of captain, Alex Ovechkin, suffering a serious injury as a result of a full-speed collision with teammate, Mike Knuble, during the team drill, but perhaps all was not well with
the player.
Since the collision happened at full speed, there is likelihood that the player might have suffered a head injury, but the coach denied it and said that the player was fit and fine.
Hunter said:
"He's fine. It's just two big guys colliding at full speed. You never like to see it at full speed. There are always collisions in the corner when you're playing five-on-five but when you don't see it coming, something real bad could have happened, but we're
lucky."
The coach added that the player would be available to accompany the team to Winnipeg to play against Jets on Friday, March 16, 2012.
However, nothing much has been said by any other official or player of the team and according to some media reports there are lingering doubts on the player’s fitness and especially his availability for the next game.
Ovechkin was down on the ice for nearly two minutes before being inspected by the team’s assistant trainer, Ben Reese. He then managed to skate to bench on the sidelines on his own.
After staying at the bench for a few minutes, he was taken to the team’s locker room and did not show up for rest of the session.
The management also restricted media approaching the player, so there is no confirmation if his injury has turned out to be concussion, which is speculated to be so.
Since there is no independent confirmation of the status of the injury, the rumours around the possibility of concussion have gained further grounds.
Apparently, the coach’s statement lacked authentic evidence in support of his claim that the player had not suffered a head injury and that he would be available from their next game.
Further, there is no confirmation that any medical tests such as scans were carried out to confirm the nature of the injury, and the results could possibly have ruled out the chances of concussion.
According to the coach, the collision such as Ovechkin’s "just knocks the wind out of you". He also did not find a need for additional medical testing for the player.
At the same time, he refrained from describing the exact nature of the injury, if it was not concussion as claimed by him, and this leaves to the speculative conclusion that it could be a head injury.
In case the player has suffered a head injury, the remaining part of the current regular season certainly looks over for him, which, by all standards, is not a good development for the team.
Without the captain, Capitals might find it difficult to maintain their current 8th position in the Eastern Conference, especially when a number of teams are trying their best to catch up with them.
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