I think his style has helped a lot too. He's obviously a physical force, and loves to throw the body, but he takes shockingly few hits for a guy who throws so many hits. In fact, in the last 3 seasons, nobody has a higher ratio of hits given to hits received (>1,500 mins).
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He's received only 1.46 hits/60 in the last 3 seasons, meaning he gets hit less than once every 2 games. The only forward in the sample who took less hits per minute than Alex Ovechkin was the late great Johnny Gaudreau (1.33).
That doesn't make his longevity and durability less impressive, but it definitely helps when you're 6'3 240lbs and taking less contact than guys like Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin lol.