Capitals welcome rest as other NHL stars prepare for 4 Nations Face-Off

No player from the Eastern Conference-leading Washington Capitals will participate in the 4 Nations Face-Off, an international tournament that will fill the NHL’s midseason break over the next week.

Neither veteran stars like Alex Ovechkin nor electric upstarts like goalie Logan Thompson were invited from Washington.

Instead, the Capitals will enjoy some time off while top players from the U.S., Canada, Finland and Sweden square off for national pride.

Despite leading the league in point percentage, Washington is the only NHL squad that did not have a player selected for the event.

Ovechkin was not eligible for the tournament, as his native Russia was excluded from the event due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. The same goes for Capitals center Aliaksei Protas, a rising star from Belarus.

Thompson, a Canadian, was passed over in favor of the St. Louis Blues’ Jordan Binnington, the Vegas Golden Knights’ Adin Hill and Montreal Canadiens goalie Sam Montembault.

Andrew Mangiapane, a Canadian winger for the Capitals, said he was reasonably disappointed when his country’s roster was released on Dec. 4.

“I’m sure everyone that was kind of on the bubble there probably would have liked to have been a part of it,” he said. “But I think internally and selfishly, I guess, for us, it gives everyone a two-week break, almost, to recover.”

Capitals defenseman John Carlson, who represented the U.S. at the World Juniors tournament in 2014 and the Winter Olympics in 2018, won’t don the red, white and blue this week. The 35-year-old, with the rest of his Washington teammates, will be resting up.

“We’re focused on what we can control and get us best prepared, whether it’s rest or some work or whatever over the break,” he said. “Everybody’s going to be different in terms of that and get ready for the rest of the year.”

It’s been an unexpectedly successful season for the Capitals, who were expected to linger around the playoff bubble as Ovechkin hunted down Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record in the final two years of his contract.

But after an injection of new players, like Thompson and center Pierre-Luc Dubois, the Capitals find themselves at the top of the standings with 80 points through their first 56 games. The squad has lost just 11 games in regulation while maintaining a 15-game home point streak that dates back to November.

And the 39-year-old Ovechkin, for his part, has shown no signs of slowing down. A broken fibula sidelined the three-time MVP for six weeks, but he quickly hit his stride again.

Ovechkin has scored 26 times this season, including four times in the final five games before the midseason break. The Russian, who ranks ninth in the NHL in goals this season, trails Gretzky on the career list by just 15 with 27 games remaining.

“I think his best hockey is to come in this season, that’s the way I feel,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery told the team’s website. “Just in my head, he’s 39 years old and missing that amount of time and trying to come back and get caught up in the National Hockey League, I think that’s really, really hard.”

According to Carbery, the Capitals aren’t focused on being snubbed for the 4 Nations Face-Off. They’re just appreciative of the extra rest ahead of a potential postseason run. 

Many of their Eastern Conference counterparts will miss out on that recovery time while they participate in the NHL-sponsored tournament.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are sending a trio of players to the tournament, which begins in Montreal and concludes in Boston. The Carolina Hurricanes, who trail the Capitals by 10 points in the Metropolitan Division, have four players representing their countries. The defending champion Florida Panthers are sending a league-high eight players to the event.

Players started practicing with their countrymen on Monday, with the first game scheduled to begin on Wednesday. The championship match will air at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 20.

“It just sets us up to give our entire group a good mental and physical reset,” Carbery said of the break. “We’re going to need every ounce of energy mentally and physically that we can find. It’s going to be a grind coming down the stretch, we know that.”

• This article is based in part on wire service reports.