Ovechkin named All-Star captain as NHL's leader in Fan Vote originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Alex Ovechkin has been named the captain of the Metropolitan Division team for the NHL's All-Star Game in Las Vegas after he led all players in the Fan Vote, it was announced Thursday evening.
Ovechkin was leading the vote essentially all the way through since it opened. He finished with 30.4% of votes from the Metropolitan Division.
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The Capitals took to social media in December to push for votes saying that Ovechkin did indeed plan to go this year. While he has been selected 12 times and participated in the All-Star Game seven times, he has cited the need for rest in recent years as a reason not to attend.
Ovechkin is enjoying one of the best seasons of his career with 24 goals and 28 assists in 37 games. He is tied for second in the NHL in goals, two shy of Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl, tied for seventh in assists and third in points just one shy of Draisaitl and Oilers teammate Connor McDavid.
And Ovechkin is doing it all at the age of 36.
The NHL All-Star Weekend will take place Feb. 4-6 in Las Vegas.
Ovechkin was the only Capitals player selected for the event. The "Last Men In" voting has now started for fans to select the last player added to each team. Every NHL team has one player on the ballot. Washington's representative is Evgeny Kuznetsov, who has 12 goals and 23 assists this season.
