The Washington Capitals are hoping to get Niklas Backstrom back soon, as the forward has been medically cleared for contact, but remains out of the lineup so far this season. Alex Ovechkin was a scratch on Tuesday against the Sharks and it came after Ovechkin overslept and came late to the morning skate around for the Caps.
The Caps are getting closer to having Backstrom on the ice, as head coach Barry Trotz confirmed that Backstrom has been "medically cleared" for contact. NHL.com reports that Backstrom is "day-to-day" and he could be back in the lineup over the next 7-to-10 days. The Caps are also dealing with an injury to Jason Chimera, but it is not considered serious. Backstrom played in all 82 games in each of the last two seasons, scoring 36 goals and recording 121 assists in that time.
Ovechkin was a rare scratch for the Capitals and the reason he was on the bench for the game against the San Jose Sharks was due to a bad alarm clock. According to the Washington Post, Ovechkin overslept and was late to the morning skate after setting his alarm clock wrong. The Capitals lost 5-0 to the Sharks and according to ESPN.com, Ovechkin has missed only 23 games in his career since coming into the league.
"It was an honest mistake," Trotz said, according to NHL.com. "I think it's an accountability factor that we put in with our team rules. I've always talked about the honesty part. Honestly, Ovi showed up and he recognized it. That's why we tried not to make a big deal out of it yesterday, because it was a game day. But we have certain accountability rules and everyone is accountable in our room."
"It's probably going to be day-to-day," Trotz said, according to NHL.com. "(Backstrom) got bumped a little bit today and we'll see how he feels tomorrow and we'll just sort of take it day by day."
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