Photo: @Radekulous
Phase 2 of the NHL’s ‘return to play‘ plan is set to officially begin on Monday, but many of the league’s players have already returned to the ice, including Capitals’ Captain Alex Ovechkin. Ovechkin remains in Florida following the birth of his second son, Ilya, on May 27.
This past week Ovechkin worked out with Florida Panthers winger Evgenii Dadonov and hockey coach Radoslav Konecny at the Pines Ice Rink in Pembroke Pines, Florida.
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Under phase 2, clubs are permitted to reopen their training facilities in their home city starting Monday, June 8, to allow players to participate in individualized training activities (off-ice and on-ice).
Players will be participating on a voluntary basis and will be scheduled to small groups (i.e., a maximum of six players at any one time, plus a limited number of club staff).
Because participation in phase 2 is completely voluntary, many players have been working out in place, wherever they are located, which is encouraged by the league.
With Phase 3 training camps not expected to open until mid-July at the earliest – the timetable still needs to be negotiated – many players are going to stay put and skate on their own, rather than come back to their respective NHL teams.
Other Capitals players currently not in the DC area: Tom Wilson (Toronto), Nic Dowd (Minnesota’s), Nick Jensen (Minisota), Dmitry Orlov (Russia), Nicklaus Backstrom (Sweden), Ilya Samsonov (Russia), Jakub Vrana (Czech Republic), Michal Kempny (Czech Republic), Radko Gudas (Czech Republic), Ilya Kovulchuk (Los Angeles), Brenden Dillon (San Francisco), Jonas Siegenthaler (Switzerland), Richard Panik (Czech Republic), Garnet Hathaway (New York).
By Jon Sorensen
Just think — if Ovi had been born just 2-3 days earlier, he’d have been drafted by the Florida Panthers who would have NOT traded the 1st overall pick they had with Pittsburgh in exchange for the 3rd. (There were other draft picks and a player involved, too.) I figure Florida had made that trade since they really didn’t need a goalie at the time as they already had Luongo and Fleury the guy ranked #1. (And probably regretted the trade two years later when they lost a ball in the infamous draft of 2005 thanks to having originally had the first pick.)
I prefer not to think about that. 😁