He is a great player HOF and all of that but he doesn't realize that it's a team he's playing on, not by himself. Watching him is watching Blaine Stoughton, without question.
well I agree that ovchkin does FAR LESS than other similar skilled players to elevate his teammates... throwing Stoughton into this conversation is a bit assanine.
I would use a pavel bure or a kent nielson as better comparables.
ovechkin in terms of pure tools... is one of the top 20 most gifted players to ever play the game. an argument can be made for him top 5... and I would even listen to arguments for him as number 1
but we all know raw tools don't necessarily make for the greatest player. I mean vladamir rudizka had raw tools coming out of his ying yang... petr klima was usually the most skilled player on his team... phil kessel skates like mike modano and shoots like pat Lafontaine.
hell I remember derek sanderson saying that with his size/skating/hands that bob Sweeney should be a 40 goal scorer... and I agreed... but Sweeney had eye sight problems and an overall lack of hockey smarts.
martin Samuelsson when he was drafted... was a potential first overall pick that dropped to us at around 17... and then failed. word was he wouldn't stop smoking... wouldn't get in shape... wouldn't get his endurance up to nhl standards.
theres lots of different reasons why players fail. bryan fogerty had substance abuse problems but he was another world class talent that broke bobby orrs records.
ovechkin... has movie star persona. for better or worst, he likes his own press clippings. for better or worst he seems to believe hes bigger than the game.
is he coachable? his fans will say that he has agreed to switch wings... that he makes a better effort at defense...
does that mean hes coachable? do any of us think the coach wont be fired tomorrow if ovechkin says so?
no one is saying ovechkin isn't a great player... at least unless they are an idiot. ovehckin has the rare talent of being able to still dominate a game at 60% effort. not a lot of people have that ability. he can still be one of the best players on the ice at 40% effort
hes like joe thornton in this reguard. I remember joe back in boston when I watched every second of every game he played. and joe was often playing at 40-60% effort. and he was still damn good at 40-60% effort
the problem is... joe set an example. he was the leader. when he played 40% effort then his buddies also played 40%
the other guys on the team stunk when they were not giving it 100%
this is the problem steve yzerman had early in his career... another generational talent... yzerman could play selfish hockey and rack up 160 points. he wasn't coachable at this time of his career... and he didn't score 160 points every season. yzerman was often mailing it in because his team stunk and guys like this get discouraged when the team stinks.
id argue taylor hall has been going through this himself the last few years.
when these very highly skilled players don't get success... they often take it very hard. when their team isn't very good... and they apply themselves and fail... its often crushing to their ego
unless the guy disengages his compete level. if the guy... loses his competitive edge then he wont take losing to heart as much. hes still getting paid 6-9 million dollars. hes still scoring 50 goals or whatever...
we see this on so many teams that lose
and we see... these players often change as they get older... as winning gets more desperate to them... and often it happens after a trade
