Not to skunk things up, but I can't say that these quotes from the Post story this morning fill me with a burning desire to shell out money for seats for the next 5 years. Sure, I'd love to see Ovie break the record. But the sentiments below don't exactly scream "Team success is paramount; individual goals are secondary." To me, they scan closer to the opposite. Am I surprised? No. But I'm concerned that this is not how you structure a successful hockey organization
“That’s why I want to play five more years,” Ovechkin said. “To have a chance to catch the Great One, why not? If I’m going to be second, you know, it’s a pretty good number as well.”
Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, who was only slightly involved in these contract negotiations, said the franchise hopes both to win another Stanley Cup and for Ovechkin to surpass Gretzky, calling the pursuit a “joyride of a lifetime for the fans.” [NB - like I said, it would be nice. But it would not be the joyride of my lifetime] “That’s very motivating for the players, that’s very motivating for the organization and the fan base, and it’s important to the league,” Leonsis said. “You want to be able to have a great team in a big market with a once-in-a-generation player who has a chance to break a record that, to be honest, I thought was unbreakable. As you break that down, 33 goals a year and he’ll stay healthy, it is a doable achievement. It jazzes everybody up.”
But, as MacLellan said, there is more the organization needs to do to best help Ovechkin pursue that goal, including surrounding him with a strong-enough supporting cast. . . . “We need to have a good team for [Ovechkin] to accomplish his individual goals,” MacLellan said. “And I think trying to balance out those goals with winning a championship, I think we can do both at that $9.5 [million annual figure] and a five-year term.”