How's Ovechkin looking this season? (esp. his -14 so far)
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CapsFrontOffice
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- Jul 8, 2014
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Ovie is still solid Ovie, now those around him can't quiet hack it and Backstrom will be a shell of his former self when/if he returns. It also does not help that the entire league knows his one signature shot and have adjusted to stop it, which coincidentally an explanation for the Capitals stellar power play stats.
Ovie is fine but everything around him needs to change or he won't be fine.
Perhaps some will, I prefer a more organic game and legacies aren't helped by stuff like this and most organizations simply wouldn't go down this road but who knows maybe it becomes more common but I certainly hope not.
Future GOAT
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I'm sure the burden of his heavy conscience is having somewhat of an impact as well.
Alexander the Gr8
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Take a look in our forum and you’ll get a different impression.
The record is important of course, it’s something we may never see again in our lifetimes as hockey fans. However, we also want team success.
The idea that we need to choose one over the other is nonsensical. In fact, one can contribute to the other, but the Caps management held on to some pieces for too long (Oshie, Carlson, Eller etc.), and it’s costing the team terribly this season.
shtorm2005
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Agree, Ovy is far from the player that costs team success right now.
TheMoreYouKnow
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If the Capitals were interested in team success, i.e. contending for a Stanley Cup, they'd trade Ovechkin or rather they would have traded him a while ago. The team is at best a marginal playoff team now. There's objectively no reason to hold on to any of the older players which includes Ovechkin. Like with other similar teams of the past it's not a question of "if" but "when". It looks to me like the fact most Caps fans are Ovechkin fans to at least the same degree will keep the organization from pulling the trigger in a timely manner. (I know I'm wasting my time, just like I did when I told my fellow Wings fans it's time to start the rebuild 10 years ago).
The innocence of the start of the title ("How's Ovechkin looking this season?") is betrayed by the follow-up ("esp. his -14 so far").
Alexander the Gr8
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Clearly we should ditch our perennial 50 goal scorer and club legend because it’s impossible to build a winning team around him.
He occupies $9.5 M of cap space. It’s up to the GM to figure out a winning recipe with the remaining $70+ M.
Regarding the Wings, once Lidstrom retired, they could’ve ditched anyone not named Datsyuk (and maybe Zetterberg) to continue contending.
That’s exactly what Boston is doing right now. The only old pieces on the team are Bergeron and Marchand. Krejci came back at a huge discount, everybody else is young and dynamic. I don’t see why the Caps couldn’t have done the same.
I was glad the Pens re-signed Crosby/Malkin/Letang despite knowing their future would be better off if they didn’t. Why? Because those guys gave the org everything they had. Sacrificed their bodies and maybe brains to win. If the org wants players to continue giving them everything they have, shipping them out when they’re old is definitely not the way. There’s a reason most respected orgs give the player the choice. You even see teams cut guys instead of trading them out of respect for the player.
Sometimes biting the bullet is best for business. And Ovechkin is still super productive, so this conversation feels absolutely ridiculous.
Nothing I’ve said here is exclusive to the NHL. It’s pretty much what happens in every NA sport. Not by accident! Take care of your stars so next one doesn’t refuse to stick around. These are still humans we’re dealing with.
CapsFrontOffice
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I would be careful counting the Capitals out just yet....Backstrom retiring or staying on LTIR would open up a lot of Cap space....the true obstacle holding the Capitals back.
Chips
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Franchise player and best goal scorer in league history will retire a Cap unless he himself wants to go, and almost no Caps fan will complain.
This core won a cup. The team isn’t going to ditch them as they’re not desperate. They’d have to replace pretty much the whole core anyway. They might as well ride it out with the fan favorite, best core the team has had and let themselves go through the normal downward part of the team building cycle most go through. They’ll get Ovi’s goal record, then suck and accumulate high picks that way. They can weaponize cap space for more picks later.
Boston isn't young and dynamic they are the 6th oldest team in the league and along with Pittsburg they will fall mightily very soon although the Pens might make the playoffs this year Washington almost certainly will miss and both will probably be out next year , age is a thing.
The bigger problem is that Washington is really sheltering Ovechkin and if he was the same player on any other team ,ie skip the history as it doesn't matter in the present, the other teams wouldn't use the recipe for failure.
MeHateHe
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I think "sheltering" is the wrong word, because their use of a 37-year-old power play specialist is probably not sustainable over the course of an 82-game season. He's playing the entirety of their power plays, in addition to a mostly-regular shift. He had 25 minutes the other night, 10 of which were on the Capitals' five power plays.
No one is effective for a full two-minute shift. No one. If he's coasting for a bunch of that - he has to be, or he wouldn't be able to be out for the full power play - then he's not active on retrieving pucks, and not active on forecheck, which means those duties fall to the four other guys on the play; it negates a big part of what makes a power play a power play: the man advantage. Yes, you can structure a power play around one guy being stationary for most of it, but it's severely limiting.
Of course the sample size is a little small; Washington has injuries and so that shifts the load to other key players, and it requires the team to change their structures to accommodate the loss of talent. If the Capitals expect this situation to play out for the rest of the season, you're going to see their power play effectiveness decline. You're also increasing the risk of injury: again, a 37-year-old player cannot be expected to run multiple two-minute-plus shifts over the length of a season without significantly increasing the risk of injury.
At the end of the day, on any team trying to win games, the effective use of your aging goal scorer is a key factor in competitiveness. Ask me again in a month.
Crosby signed his current contract when he was 26, you think their future would be better if they didn’t sign him?
He is their only legit scoring threat. He has like all of the Caps pp goals. He coasts, but he also scores.
I’ve watched a handful of their games and he looks like a former elite player that is 37. No doubt he can still score, but his legs aren’t what they were so he can’t sustain the explosiveness for an extended stretch.
To me, he coasts a lot and is bad 5 on 5. He will still score 30+ though.
To me, he coasts a lot and is bad 5 on 5. He will still score 30+ though.
Big Phil
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I would say slower. Or maybe we are noticing it more. For years he has thrived on the whole "Get me the puck on the left side on the PP and I'll one-time it" mantra. To his credit it works, and has. Maybe this is the year it slows down considerably? I don't know. We'll see. This isn't 2010, he isn't going to fly up and down the ice like he used to and carry the puck with confidence and speed. He's a bit of a one-trick pony at this point in his career and I am not sure if that is helping the team. Then again, we are looking at his old standards and comparing him to his old self and that's not easy.
I think he looks tired to be honest. I can't blame him. He's barely missed a game in his career. Eventually it has to start catching up with him.
I think he looks tired to be honest. I can't blame him. He's barely missed a game in his career. Eventually it has to start catching up with him.
Good post here and I'll clarify what I mean by "sheltered." I meant the 3 year increase in offensive zone starts since the 19-20 season.
19-20 63.7%
20-21 77.9%
21-22 82.1%
22-23 86.2%
It's normal for older players to get a break here but not to this degree in terms of %, it's literally off the charts.
The eye test also backs up the fact that Ovi isn't really a very good ES player any more.
Even on the PP he simply isn't that great either given that he is tied for 19th in PPP in the league and has by far the most PP TOI in the lague at 117 minutes over Kucherov who has 90 minutes.
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I checked and you are right he has 4 of the Caps 14 PP goals this year.
He has been on the ice for 13 of their 14 PP goals this year, perhaps that's what you meant?
Even if it was all that really points to is the increased TOI on the PP, the Capitals are basically in the middle of league PP scoring.
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