Player Discussion Alexander Ovechkin (Vol. 4)

[Foots]

More “Ovie is on roids” from the Pens faithful.

That is all they got left.

 

[HTFN]

I've never cared for the "lazy Ovechkin" thing but I have suspected there would be a year where he stops working a regular amount and starts working an old man amount, because being a freak finally stopped giving him the edge he was looking for, and this is (partially) that. There's also the return of fans, real divisions, his kid, etc, but that stuff doesn't make you look lighter and faster.

 

[Raikkonen]

Maybe its just Olympic year for you. Lets see if he can score 50 next season first. The road to 1000 is very long.

 

[txpd]

Maybe its just Olympic year for you. Lets see if he can score 50 next season first. The road to 1000 is very long.

I dont think its the olympics. I think its his kids. The oldest one is old enough to watch him play. I know of several top athlete who become really motivated by that. Ov would not be the first

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Yep…..kids and wife….I doubt he wants his kids remembering him as a shell of his former self.


He’s got more to work hard for now than just himself.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Florida fan passing by. Crazy he's leading the league in points as a 36 year old against prime McDavid and Draisatl

I'm curious, what's different this year than in the past few years? Has he changed his game a bit? or is everything just going right for him (Linemate chemistry, etc)

Whatever the reason, hope he keeps it up!

Russian Machine got an oil change and a software upgrade during the off-season.

 

[Hivemind]

Florida fan passing by. Crazy he's leading the league in points as a 36 year old against prime McDavid and Draisatl

I'm curious, what's different this year than in the past few years? Has he changed his game a bit? or is everything just going right for him (Linemate chemistry, etc)

Whatever the reason, hope he keeps it up!

The whole team is injured (or on COVID protocol now), so he's playing like 25 minutes/night. You play that many minutes, you'll put up a bunch of points.

The question is can he (or anyone) survive that type of grind over a full season.

 

[authentic]

I dont think its the olympics. I think its his kids. The oldest one is old enough to watch him play. I know of several top athlete who become really motivated by that. Ov would not be the first

Pretty sure Lemieux was motivated by the same thing during his comeback.

 

[authentic]

The whole team is injured (or on COVID protocol now), so he's playing like 25 minutes/night. You play that many minutes, you'll put up a bunch of points.

The question is can he (or anyone) survive that type of grind over a full season.

He's averaging just under 22 minutes per game which is less ice time than McDavid, Draisaitl and even a bit less than Kuznetsov. Also scoring more than anyone at even strength where McDavid and Draisaitl have an even bigger ice time advantage.

 

[VaCaps Fan]

Witness to greatness every night.

 

[TJHKY]

 

[Ridley Simon]

The man is amazing. I fully agree that his having kids, changed him.

but he’s so impressive. Read an article where he lent Protas one of his cars…..for as long as Protas needed it. Some Lexus SUV. Granted, he’s probably got a dozen cars, but still.

the story goes that Protas needed a car to go back to Hershey to get his stuff — he calls Kuznetsov and asks for advice on where to rent one — Kuz calls Ovy and tells him about it.

voila! Kuz takes Protas to Ovy’s house, and Ovy just gives the kid the car. All the papers, everything. “Keep it as long as you need it”.

I think Protas is still driving it.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Pretty sure Lemieux was motivated by the same thing during his comeback.

totally….his kids hadn’t seen him play if I recall.

 

[txpd]

The man is amazing. I fully agree that his having kids, changed him.

but he’s so impressive. Read an article where he lent Protas one of his cars…..for as long as Protas needed it. Some Lexus SUV. Granted, he’s probably got a dozen cars, but still.

the story goes that Protas needed a car to go back to Hershey to get his stuff — he calls Kuznetsov and asks for advice on where to rent one — Kuz calls Ovy and tells him about it.

voila! Kuz takes Protas to Ovy’s house, and Ovy just gives the kid the car. All the papers, everything. “Keep it as long as you need it”.

I think Protas is still driving it.

I still like the story of the big snow storm a while back and Ov going around the neighborhood and snow blowing everyone's driveway

 

[Devil Dancer]

All this in the first year of a new contract is unusual.

I guess money isn't the biggest motivator for Ovie.

 

[txpd]

All this in the first year of a new contract is unusual.

I guess money isn't the biggest motivator for Ovie.

A lot of times a player getting a big contract is feeling a lot of pressure to prove he is worth it. To make it worse often its with a new team. Ov doesn't feel any of that pressure. He didnt get a raise, he believes he is worth it and is still the player he is supposed to be and its with a team and fan base that knows and trusts him.

On the other hand I had hoped that was why Panik wasn't good his first season.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

All this in the first year of a new contract is unusual.

I guess money isn't the biggest motivator for Ovie.

I think his biggest motivation is his drive for consistent excellence and his desire to be #1. Thinking back about it, the only thing that held him back during the slump years of 2011 and 2012 was the constant blaming and criticism. If he's a top 5 player in 2021-22 at the age of 36, he could've still been the best back in 2011-2012.

In hindsight, I wish GMGM and the rest of the Caps brass paid no attention to the media narrative and only made the adjustments in Ovi's game that were eventually made under Trotz.

 

[txpd]

I think his biggest motivation is his drive for consistent excellence and his desire to be #1. Thinking back about it, the only thing that held him back during the slump years of 2011 and 2012 was the constant blaming and criticism. If he's a top 5 player in 2021-22 at the age of 36, he could've still been the best back in 2011-2012.

In hindsight, I wish GMGM and the rest of the Caps brass paid no attention to the media narrative and only made the adjustments in Ovi's game that were eventually made under Trotz.

I am pretty sure at least in the 2nd of those 2 30 goal seasons that he had a pretty significant wrist injury.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

I am pretty sure at least in the 2nd of those 2 30 goal seasons that he had a pretty significant wrist injury.

I think you're referring to 2016-17. I don't recall reports of that nature in 2011-12.

 

[txpd]

I think you're referring to 2016-17. I don't recall reports of that nature in 2011-12.

Not sure what you mean by reports. I dont think anything was in the media about it, though I will google. IIRC we talked at lenth here about how is game looked wrong. That was the season that his shot totals and ranking was way off his typical. 2010-11 was the season that he scored a power play goal in 1 game before February and only scored 5 after that for 7 total. In his first 51 games that season he scored 2 ppgs in a game in Calgary and none otherwise. Something was wrong someplace in there. If you think media wasnt going to notice that and ask about it....regularly, then....I dont know

 

[HTFN]

Not sure what you mean by reports. I dont think anything was in the media about it, though I will google. IIRC we talked at lenth here about how is game looked wrong. That was the season that his shot totals and ranking was way off his typical. 2010-11 was the season that he scored a power play goal in 1 game before February and only scored 5 after that for 7 total. In his first 51 games that season he scored 2 ppgs in a game in Calgary and none otherwise. Something was wrong someplace in there. If you think media wasnt going to notice that and ask about it....regularly, then....I dont know

I can't date it either but yeah, we've had long stretches of time where you would even see chains of comments in GDT's talking about Ovechkin shaking his wrist a lot and noticeably massaging it on the bench and whatnot.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Not sure what you mean by reports. I dont think anything was in the media about it, though I will google. IIRC we talked at lenth here about how is game looked wrong. That was the season that his shot totals and ranking was way off his typical. 2010-11 was the season that he scored a power play goal in 1 game before February and only scored 5 after that for 7 total. In his first 51 games that season he scored 2 ppgs in a game in Calgary and none otherwise. Something was wrong someplace in there. If you think media wasnt going to notice that and ask about it....regularly, then....I dont know

My memory must be failing me then, because I remember more talk about how he got “figured out” on the rush coming down the LW, which is how Oates came up with the “brilliant” idea to switch him to RW.

I rewatched all his goals from that year, his wrist looks fine to me.

Anyway there was clearly more to it than just a wrist injury, because that went on for 2 years.

 

[txpd]

My memory must be failing me then, because I remember more talk about how he got “figured out” on the rush coming down the LW, which is how Oates came up with the “brilliant” idea to switch him to RW.

I rewatched all his goals from that year, his wrist looks fine to me.

Anyway there was clearly more to it than just a wrist injury, because that went on for 2 years.

He basically went 50 games without a power play goal. That has to be Forysthe's fault. Right? The 38 goal year was still good for 5th in the league. I am not sure that should even count.

I will say that I dont think its a coincidence that Ov has won the Richard every season except last season since the league cracked down on slashing to the hands/wrists in 2017. I think his wrists took a beating. But thats just me. An opine.

 

[Randyne]

Just noticed, how Ovi and Sid adjusted points for 2009-10 season are equal in hockey-reference?
NHL & WHA Single Season Leaders and Records for Adjusted Points | Hockey-Reference.com
This site don't adjust per game pace?

 

[filinski77]

Just noticed, how Ovi and Sid adjusted points for 2009-10 season are equal in hockey-reference?
NHL & WHA Single Season Leaders and Records for Adjusted Points | Hockey-Reference.com
This site don't adjust per game pace?

I believe it only adjusts the NHL GP to a static number (probably 82).

So, if Crosby only plays 22 GP in a season, but the NHL had 82 GP, Crosby does not get “adjusted” points for games that he didn’t play but that the league played.

It essentially normalizes things such as the 80GP seasons and things like lockouts and these Covid shortened seasons.