I'm starting to worry that my investment in tickets to the Caps final 4 games of the season may be for naught. The lowly Hawks, at home on Friday, getting a hat-trick to break the record would be the most Ovi thing ever. It went pretty quick from looking like it would be next season, to now looking like it'll be well before this season ends.
It still feels surreal that the record is about to fall, knowing where the game was in the late 90's and into the 2000's, the 2004 Rocket Richard was a three way tie with 41 goals. I really never thought it would be sniffed, much less broken.
The game is in a great spot, Sid and Ovy helped usher in a great era of hockey, much like Magic and Bird saved the NBA from the dumpster in the 80's.
They have the most difficult part of the rebuild down, finding offense is the hardest thing, people minimize offense or try and say intangible things are more important, but there is a reason why offensive players are drafted at the top of the draft and are paid the most money.
They did have some run-well too, they were able to trade a declining veteran for a prospect who ends up being their franchise two-way center, Suzuki is a legit star player, somehow he plays in Montreal and is underrated, Caufield falling to 15 was absolutely criminal and NHL GM's should be embarrassed by some of the players they took over him, and then they get Hutson two years later the same way. What is crazy is, they made a poor pick and passed on Michkov, imagine what they'd look like with him?
Obviously there is a lot more to do, they will need to sign some culture veterans, and trade the right young pieces for other veterans (DL did an excellent job with the Kings in trading POS, Johnson and Simmonds) but it's tough to imagine that team not being very good for the next 7-8 years.
