Pitching for the year: when Ovechkin will return and why Michkov is failing

There's a three-day Christmas break in the NHL, so it's time to summarize the first part of the regular season. "Panarin and Shesterkin's Rangers and Kaprizov's Minnesota have slumped after a great start, Washington is waiting for Alexander Ovechkin to return, and Matvey Michkov has failed in the last few games. Read more in the Izvestia piece.

Ovechkin will be back soon

Washington captain Alexander Ovechkin has not played since November 19 because of a broken leg. During this time, the main star of the Capitals has not once traveled with the team on the road, but so far Ovi's return to the ice is delayed. There was a chance he would play before the Christmas break against Boston, but the coaches saved the veteran again.

- I think we've missed him a little bit, especially lately from a scoring standpoint. We've dried up a little bit. It was obvious at the beginning of the year: when he scores, the rest of the guys feel better," admits head coach Spencer Carbery.

"I wish Ovechkin to break Gretzky's record as early as this season."

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No wonder it's hard for Washington without Ovi - in 18 games this season, the Russian scored 25 points and before his injury with 15 goals was even first in the NHL regular season sniper race. At the same time, the team without Alexander still achieves good results and is second in the Eastern Conference.

- Sasha is a phenomenal player," Olympic champion and two-time world champion Ilya Kovalchuk told Izvestia. - Scoring more than 850 goals in the NHL - it's hard to even pronounce that number(smiling). Age is just a number. But in his case it is. He's in great shape, he had a great summer. Unfortunately, this ridiculous injury, but it will only make him stronger. We talk to each other all the time. I think Ovechkin will be back on the ice soon and will definitely keep scoring.

Rangers failure

"The Rangers have lost five of their last six games. After a great start, Laviolette's team has stopped playing altogether and is already five points behind the playoff zone. Attempts by the general manager to rectify the situation in the form of exchanging Trouba and Kakko do not save the situation. Victories come to the Rangers either over very weak teams, or thanks to the exceptional actions of Igor Shesterkin, as it was in the game with Dallas.

Artemi Panarin missed a couple games due to injuries, but his return is not helping either. The crisis in the team is global, and the competitors are falling behind - failure to make the playoffs with this roster would be a monumental failure.

- Everyone on the team is trying hard, maybe not resting enough," Panarin is quoted by the NHL press service. - I assure you, everyone on the team wants to win. But sometimes because of the lack of confidence you don't feel comfortable psychologically. If we knew the reasons, we wouldn't be in this situation. Is this the worst moment of my Rangers career? Probably yes. We need to rest these few days, reset and come back with our best game.

Minnesota's slump

This season could be the most successful for Minnesota in history. Kirill Kaprizov's team got off to a good start in the regular season and pleasantly surprised with their solid play, which is not just built on the Russian talent. Yes, Kaprizov is definitely the Wild's top star by a wide margin, but without a solid defense, great play by Swedish goaltender Gustavsson and depth on offense, the team would not have risen so high.

It's hard to go an entire season without failures and this past week was a terrible one for Minnesota. "Wild" lost all four games in regulation time with a total score of 4:16, and the quintessential example of this failure was the meeting with "Winnipeg" (0:5). "Minnesota" looked surprisingly inert on offense and put only 19 shots on goal Connor Hellybak.

Kaprizov also looked pale, remembered only for the moment when he stepped in for Marco Rossi and clashed with Winnipeg defenseman Dylan Demelo. When you can't create, you can try to get your team going, so that's a plus for the Russian star's character and combativeness.

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Already this week Minnesota barely beat Chicago 4-3, and Kaprizov scored a goal, so it looks like things are about to get better.

What's up with Michkov?

A five-game winning streak in which Matvey Michkov scored 10 (3+7) points has been replaced by an unsuccessful one - the Russian rookie hasn't scored in six straight games.

Another slump has hit Michkov - he's been on a sine wave all season. However, stability from the young player was hardly to be expected, and Philadelphia realizes that Matvey needs time to fully adapt to the league.

There have been a lot of strange stories around Matvey here [in Russia]," Ilya Kovalchuk continued. - I don't know him personally. I haven't seen him play live. He was floundering between Sochi and St. Petersburg, all those problems, then the tragedy with his father - it was terrible. The fact that he went to the NHL and started playing like that - well done, handsome! He's a short guy. He fights, scores important goals. I know Philadelphia, they like this style of play. I think he's very happy there.

Nevertheless, Matvey's chances of winning the Calder Trophy - the prize for the best rookie - are getting slimmer with each game. Michkov's main competitor is San Jose forward MacLean Celebrini, who is on a point-per-game schedule. The main advantage of the Canadian is that he plays without fail, and even if he finishes the game without scoring points, he is sure to get into the highlights with some beautiful technical action.