Player Discussion Alexander Ovechkin (Vol. 4)

[Ovie's Neighbor]

With the announcement of the NHL playing in the Olympics in 2026 maybe it will light a fire in OV to take conditioning and diet more seriously so he can get a gold medal for Russia.

 

[PlushMinus]

What's more concerning to me is the fact that this team is not very good from top to bottom. There are no driving forces on this team. No superstars. No players who can take over games. No one who can consistently be noticeable and make a difference every game. Everyone shows up from time to time. And there is no light at the end of the tunnel. No quick fix and in sight and this season is looking like another waisted year. While its true that Ovechkin had some bad games this year but overall you can not ignore that there are a lot of things wrong with this team.

Also why for the love of god do we keep talking about the record? Record this and record that and 5 years and 10 years. I know its popular amongst morons to try to somehow use this record against Ovechkin because lets face it the "never going to win a cup" slogan was the best that they ever come up with. Jeez just stop it. Its as if the guy publicly came out and stated that he is only playing for the record. Or management publicly stating that that's their official 5 year plan. Look at the center depth this team has. Its pathetic. If anything, the team has only hurt his chances of catching Gretz by going through this alleged retool.

I share your pain with regards to the quality of the team. I'll take it even further and say I am (seemingly one of the few) still annoyed that they didn't win more than one Cup over all these past years. So many years of being near the top during the regular season and then the perennial first round playoff exit. But it is all water under the bridge now. The current team is awful and will be for quite some time.

People are going to talk about the record because it is literally the only thing left to talk about with regards to Ovie and to a lesser degree the Caps. And it really did look like he could get to 895 by the end of next season (24-25) if he stayed healthy and played most of the games. Not to mention the Caps org themselves have been marketing the "GR8 Race" (though I bet they have gone quiet on that over the last couple of months).

He can keep playing for the love of the game and not the record. But he publicly stated he signed the contract extension after getting Leonsis to promise that he would keep the team competitive (personally i think that was marketing bs, but that's just me), and the team is NOT competitive. So I don't imagine he is particularly happy with the way things are currently going (if he was speaking the truth and it wasn't just marketing bs).

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

With the announcement of the NHL playing in the Olympics in 2026 maybe it will light a fire in OV to take conditioning and diet more seriously so he can get a gold medal for Russia.

I doubt Russia will be allowed to play then, and Ovi will be 41 years old at that point.

It ain’t happening, Sochi was his last chance at the age of 29 (thanks Bettman!).

 

[Brian23]

I doubt Russia will be allowed to play then, and Ovi will be 41 years old at that point.

It ain’t happening, Sochi was his last chance at the age of 29 (thanks Bettman!).

I think it's more likely he takes his ball and goes home to play for Russia if that's the case.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

I think it's more likely he takes his ball and goes home to play for Russia if that's the case.

You mean play in the KHL? I think it was always going to happen no matter what, he mentioned multiple times that he would want to play for his hometown Dynamo Moscow one more time before retirement.

 

[Brian23]

You mean play in the KHL? I think it was always going to happen no matter what, he mentioned multiple times that he would want to play for his hometown Dynamo Moscow one more time before retirement.

Nah, if he has a chance to play at the Olympics for Russia but the league won't let him I could easily see him just leaving to go do that. Especially if his play has continued too trend down.

I figure he'll be like Jagr and playing in the KHL for some amount of games for as long as he can, but I'm strictly talking about playing for Olympic Gold here.

 

[Fred22406Capsfan]

Not familiar with the ins and outs of the NHL's cap here. Hypothetical, Ovi retires/walks away after this season, Backy hangs 'em up (not just LTIR) - does their money come free immediately or is there a degree of 'dead money', like in the NFL? Just thinking that if/when it happens, that's a lot of FA cheddar freed up.

 

[Acallabeth]

Not familiar with the ins and outs of the NHL's cap here. Hypothetical, Ovi retires/walks away after this season, Backy hangs 'em up (not just LTIR) - does their money come free immediately or is there a degree of 'dead money', like in the NFL? Just thinking that if/when it happens, that's a lot of FA cheddar freed up.

Ovechkin has a 35+ contract, his 9.5M would fully count against the cap even with retirement/buyout/contract termination.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Ovechkin has a 35+ contract, his 9.5M would fully count against the cap even with retirement/buyout/contract termination.

Yup….

If a player who is not on a 35+ contract retires, then his cap hit disappears.

Previously, if any player on a multiyear 35+ contract retired, his cap hit remained. The 2020 changes to the CBA added conditions to the rule. Now, if a player who is on a 35+ contract retires, his cap hit will only remain in full if it is a multiyear deal, and:

1. The contract has signing bonuses beyond the first year, OR

2. The salary is front-loaded in the year-to-year breakdown

The cap hit also cannot be reduced via a buyout, and if a player on a 35+ contract is assigned to the minors beyond the first year of the contract it would only reduce his cap hit by $100,000.

An example of this is the five-year extension Alex Ovechkin recently signed with the Capitals. The salary is back-loaded, but there are signing bonuses beyond the first year. If Ovechkin retires before the contract expires, the Capitals will be stuck with the cap hit for the duration of the contract because of the signing bonuses:

 

[Ovechkins Wodka]

Ovechkin has a 35+ contract, his 9.5M would fully count against the cap even with retirement/buyout/contract termination.

Well then there is only one thing left to do... 895

 

[Fred22406Capsfan]

Ouch. Thanks for explaining it, guys. Not the answer I WANTED to hear, but thank you! In other words, Ovi gets hot for the 2nd half of the season, conditions like crazy in the off season and plays like he's 30 again this fall. Hey, why not?

 

[HTFN]

Ouch. Thanks for explaining it, guys. Not the answer I WANTED to hear, but thank you! In other words, Ovi gets hot for the 2nd half of the season, conditions like crazy in the off season and plays like he's 30 again this fall. Hey, why not?

It's not the end of the world either.

This is all presuming Ovechkin straight up retires, but if it's really not going amazing from here on out he can LTIR any of those years without much consequence. Even being in the shadow of 895 would make his reason for not retiring outright pretty easy to explain even if he never takes the ice again, worst case scenario.

 

[Raikkonen]

Gold medal for the team with Geno and Kuzy as top-6 centers? I somehow doubt it

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Nah, if he has a chance to play at the Olympics for Russia but the league won't let him I could easily see him just leaving to go do that. Especially if his play has continued too trend down.

I figure he'll be like Jagr and playing in the KHL for some amount of games for as long as he can, but I'm strictly talking about playing for Olympic Gold here.

I don't think going to the Olympics or not is a league problem, I think it will be a IIHF problem.
Maybe they're allowed to compete as the Olympic athletes from Russia like they did in 2018.

 

[um]

I doubt Russia will be allowed to play then, and Ovi will be 41 years old at that point.

It ain’t happening, Sochi was his last chance at the age of 29 (thanks Bettman!).

Its not like Russia ever had the defense to win it all. The Soviet powerhouse is long gone.

 

[trick9]

We need to find a way to build the team in a way where Ovechkin doesn't need to be the top play-maker in the team, which should help him shoot and score more again.

 

[Acallabeth]

We need to find a way to build the team in a way where Ovechkin doesn't need to be the top play-maker in the team, which should help him shoot and score more again.

Meh, if he just trains harder in the offseason, he will be able to finish his own passes next year.

 

[YippieKaey]

Meh, if he just trains harder in the offseason, he will be able to finish his own passes next year.

Now if he could only learn to close his five-hole when in reverse VH we have a complete team.

 

[ovikovy817]

Going to Dubai wasn't that bad apparently.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Going to Dubai wasn't that bad apparently.

Dry weather good for the back?! lol…

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Going to Dubai wasn't that bad apparently.

I think for Ovi a lot of things are always about being in a groove.

A 3-game goalscoring streak doesn't seem like much, he was getting these streaks every week in his prime, but it could be a good boost of confidence for his shot.

His shooting percentage is still low at 6.9%, but it's already rebounding from the abysmal 4% he had earlier this season.

The only other time he had a shooting % lower than 10% was in 2010-11 (with 8.7%), and he was taking 350+ shots a season back then.

 

[BallardEra]

That was a great pass he made to Strome yesterday.

 

[BallardEra]

8 goals in his first 43 games.

6 goals in his last 6 games.

 

[WingsFan95]

It's got to be a unique streak now going 6 games with a goal while losing all of those games, never-mind the team is on a total 8 game skid. I actually don't even recall a player on a goal streak of 4+ where his team lost every game.

 

[StrikingDistance]

The lack of Ovi goals is quite obvious to me:

1) Backy not healthy
2) Kuzy not caring

At one point Backy & Kuzy were 1a and 1b centers. Now are best is Strome and he's really good, but Backy and Kuzy had yearsssss of playing time with Ovi.