Ovechkin Milestone Thread - Countdown to 894

[Firsov99]

Ovi is looking tired and old the last few games, Caps are playing (last 10 games anyway) awful and spreading the ice time evenly.

D is playing ok, and goalies, especially Thompson are playing great. None of the forwards are humming. Bad Caps is not showing on the standings as yet, and hoping its just a long season down spell.

It’s just due to age and his reduced stamina. It’s the right decision by the coaching staff.

You can also see that his OT time has been drastically reduced. He typically doesn’t even appear on ice before a face-off because if the Caps lose a face-off, he could be forced to defend on massive ice for a long time. Again, it’s the right thing to do by the coaching staff.

 

[BMann]

It’s just due to age and his reduced stamina. It’s the right decision by the coaching staff.

You can also see that his OT time has been drastically reduced. He typically doesn’t even appear on ice before a face-off because if the Caps lose a face-off, he could be forced to defend on massive ice for a long time. Again, it’s the right thing to do by the coaching staff.

Or nursing himself back from the injury. He'll be fine. We should know this by now.

 

[Firsov99]

Or nursing himself back from the injury. He'll be fine. We should know this by now.

This too, but his time in back-to-backs has been limited even before the injury. The body of a nearly 40-year old is much slower and doesn't recover as fast. So, the coaching staff is doing the right thing.

And I would like to sing another praise to the current Caps' coaching staff. A few years back, when Lavi was the coach, he would put Ovi on ice BEFORE a face-off in OT. And I wanted to pull my hair out because if the Caps were to lose that face-off -- even it was in the offensive zone -- Ovi could get stuck playing defense for more than a minute, and this would lead to multiple OT losses. Or even if the Caps didn't allow a goal on that shift after defending, Ovi wouldn't be able to recover quickly enough for another shift. It was a sheer stupidity in my book.

So, now, in the Carbs era, I see that Ovi is virtually never on ice before a face-off (unless it's a PP). Moreover, he typically isn't on ice when the Caps gain posession of the puck. But once the Caps cycle the puck once or twice, he hops over the bench to play against tired players of the opposition. This is just a smart thing to do! I am absolutely elated that the Caps have such a young and talented coach now who knows his players' strengths and weaknesses.

 

[Calderon]

PIT with Sid: 725-449-142 =.605
PIT w/o Sid: 121-64-28 =.634

How can this be explained? 200+ games isn't exactly a tiny sample size either.

 

[SteelCityCannon]

I was unaware empty net goals weren't goals anymore. I missed that memo.

 

[AlexModvechkin8]

Are we currently on “Ovi is lucky he’s on a good team” or “the Caps don’t care about being a good team and winning and are sacrificing team success to get Ovi the record when they’re old and crappy and should be rebuilding?” Having trouble keeping up.