Dmitri Kapitonov is in town

 I hate to post this, but since Slava started it, you can't stop it.

Slava Malamud's blog, Apr. 30, 2009:

Ovechkin is not practicing. The team denies the fact of injury, but no one can forbid me to speculate. As you recall, I said it yesterday. I repeat today. Here we go.

I have every reason to believe that Alexander is injured and played on injections. Last year he confessed at the end of the series with Philadelphia "that last month he played on painkillers given by injections." And this year it looks exactly the same as it was back then. Watching him in the first round, it was impossible not to notice the way he played without a puck, especially on the transition from defense to offense. Ovechkin, my friends, never skates upwards. Never. Except for those moments when there is something wrong. And by "wrong" I mean "lower body injury."

I've just talked with Michael Victorovich (Ovechkin-Senior) and he said that Sasha is now working individually with Dmitri Kapitonov, Moscow Dynamo's doctor. In a bit I'll try to talk to Alexander myself.

Bad, bad Slava. Though there's some truth about Ovie's skating, I just hope that it's all garbage and Alex is really working with personal trainer. By the way, Slava, Dmitri is not a doctor, he is a fitness trainer with Dynamo. I guess it's just a typo.


Capitals Insider, Apr. 30, 2009:

While it's not completely unusual for Alex Ovechkin to take a practice off, it does strike me as a bit odd that he's not out there this morning. All of the other big minute players, like Mike Green, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin and Brooks Laich, are skating.

A team spokesman said Ovechkin is not hurt. But let's see what Coach Bruce Boudreau has to say afterward.

Update:


Ovie's after practice.

Capitals Insider, Apr. 30, 2009:

Both Coach Bruce Boudreau and Alex Ovechkin said that Ovechkin is not nursing an injury after this morning's practice at KCI, where the reigning MVP was conspicuously absent from what seemed to be a pretty important on-ice session.

"He'll be practicing tomorrow, okay," Boudreau said. "Sometimes his body gets beat up because he plays so much. He just plays a lot. So he needs a little bit more rest than other guys. So he's just resting today."

When asked why he did not practice today, Ovechkin smiled and said: "Just take more day[s] off."

I'm hearing that Ovechkin's personal trainer from Russia, Dmitry Kapitonov, has come over this week to work with the Caps' star winger.

"He's not my doctor, he's my trainer," Ovechkin said when asked why Kapitanov is here.

 TWEET THIS


Need to buy something on Amazon? Order via this blog, show support.

Here's more about Kapitonov by Eric McErlain, The Sporting News, March 7, 2008:

Kapitonov gave no reason for Ovechkin's seven-game goal drought, but said on a recent visit he found Ovechkin had neglected off-ice exercise to maintain his endurance. Kapitonov got Ovechkin back on the exercise bike, improved Ovechkin's aerobic capacity and then got out of the way.