Player Discussion Alexander Ovechkin (Vol. 4)

[John Price]

 

[BallardEra]

8 goals in his first 43 games.
21 goals in his last 30 games.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Apparently, today marks the 20th anniversary of the Caps winning the 2004 draft lottery. Aside from June 7th 2018, this might have been the second best day in Caps history.

 

[Byron Bitz]

Damn just realized Matthews has a chance to beat Ovy’s cap era goals record of 65. McDavid just missed it last year with 64.

 

[BallardEra]

Since January 27, only Matthews and Hyman have scored more goals than Ovechkin:

 

[BallardEra]

This one was career goal #443 for him and it just shows you how lethal that one timer is. Like how do you even move to stop that shot?:

 

[TJHKY]

 

[BallardEra]

Looked pretty bad in this series.

 

[Albatros]

Below replacement level when it matters most.

 

[ovikovy817]

Yeah, let's sh*t on the guy who was one of the reason why they made it.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Looked pretty bad in this series.

It was very reminiscent of his 1st half struggles. Whatever it is that causes him to look exhausted after every single shift is what he needs to address in the offseason.

 

[zappa4ever]

The 22g in 35gms OV is what we all want
unfortunately he either ran out of gas or was nursing something in the series (or both)

Hope in the offseason his body recovers well and trains well for next year, it ain't gonna get easier to play with 1400+ gms of accumulated wear-and-tear

 

[OV Rocks]

38 years old and carries a historically bad team into the playoffs, heck of a year Alex. Maybe expecting that same 38 year old to continue to be your leading goal scorer points to the fact that the team isn't built correctly.

I am hopeful Alex can play 3rd line minutes next year and still his full 2 minute PP shifts. That means adding 2 top 6 guys who can score 35+ goals.

 

[Caps8112]

38 years old and carries a historically bad team into the playoffs, heck of a year Alex. Maybe expecting that same 38 year old to continue to be your leading goal scorer points to the fact that the team isn't built correctly.

I am hopeful Alex can play 3rd line minutes next year and still his full 2 minute PP shifts. That means adding 2 top 6 guys who can score 35+ goals.

doubt they drop him at all but even so 2nd line is the max they move him down and rightfully so. Without Ovi this organization is in quebec or something. Fine with what he wants to do until he says hes done.

 

[StreetHawk]

doubt they drop him at all but even so 2nd line is the max they move him down and rightfully so. Without Ovi this organization is in quebec or something. Fine with what he wants to do until he says hes done.

Ovy, see what he does in the off-season. Video of him going to the team bus in his suit, he doesn't look in top notch shape. He's 38, not 28, so you understand some drop off, and has a wife and kids so off-season training not the same for him vs Sid who has no kids. But, has to make time for that and be more disciplined in his nutrition.

At this point, Wash is preparing for the next 2 seasons to move off Oshie, eat the balance of Kuz contract, and watch Ovy break the goals record in 2 years. That will be the end of that era of the Capitals. All transactions should be done with trying to be their best in 26/27 season.

 

[OV Rocks]

doubt they drop him at all but even so 2nd line is the max they move him down and rightfully so. Without Ovi this organization is in quebec or something. Fine with what he wants to do until he says hes done.

My point was not at all meant to diminish Ovi, Alex is the franchise I'll take your stance even further I am fine with the Caps doing whatever Ovi wants even when he is 50 and retired. Wanna draft Ovi Jr. in the first round? Hell yeah I am down.

My point of dropping him to the 3rd line was meant more so to highlight the fact that next season we can't expect someone who is touching 40 to remain the teams top goal scorer. If we can add 2 top 6 players the load falls off of Ovi especially at 5 on 5. I don't see a reason why Ovi can't have 30 again next year, but if that is his new bar and not 50 - which I think for a 39 year old is more than fair - we need guys who can score 40+ to allow Ovi to be a complimentary depth scorer not our only scorer.

In an ideal world, Alex is 3rd on the team in goals next year with 32.

 

[dreadpirateroberts]

Ovy, see what he does in the off-season. Video of him going to the team bus in his suit, he doesn't look in top notch shape. He's 38, not 28, so you understand some drop off, and has a wife and kids so off-season training not the same for him vs Sid who has no kids. But, has to make time for that and be more disciplined in his nutrition.

At this point, Wash is preparing for the next 2 seasons to move off Oshie, eat the balance of Kuz contract, and watch Ovy break the goals record in 2 years. That will be the end of that era of the Capitals. All transactions should be done with trying to be their best in 26/27 season.

I’m no expert on nutrition, but you’d hope he would’ve cut out the soda by now

 

[usiel]

I do wonder if Ovie has some back issues. Noticed this year he seemed really stiff sometimes switch from skating forward to back (almost losing his balance at times). Should probably shed some pounds and get a yoga instructor in the off season. Trainer usiel steps out....

 

[Ovie's Neighbor]

We have been saying the conditioning issue for years. His nutrition is shit. His workout regime does not seem to focus on the right stuff for a player his age. He could get away with it when he was younger. He is now one of the oldest players in the league he needs to adapt.

 

[marcel snapshot]

The death March to 895 is gonna look like a circus freak show if he doesn’t make some major conditioning, nutrition, wellness changes. There have been a few pro athletes who have succeeded at 39, but they’re rabid about taking care of themselves. And those that aren’t end up looking like Willie Mays stumbling around center field hanging on with the Mets at 42. It ain’t pretty

 

[bacchist]

I feel like it's going to be sad to watch these next couple years...

 

[Capsman]

Connor McDavid teams playoff record is 8-13, he has 11 g, 11 a in 21 games.
At this age Ovechkin teams were 13-15 in the playoffs and Ovy had 20 g 20 a in 28 games.

This hasn’t aged well.

 

[Acallabeth]

We have been saying the conditioning issue for years. His nutrition is shit. His workout regime does not seem to focus on the right stuff for a player his age. He could get away with it when he was younger. He is now one of the oldest players in the league he needs to adapt.

We can only guess. It definitely seems that Ovechkin needs to put his entire focus on increasing his mobility on the ice, but maybe he is already trying to do that and it's the best result he can get from his training. Ovechkin isn't always open about his injuries, he hinted in September that he spent a lot of time recovering, and we know that he didn't repeat his 2022 practice of starting preparing in mid-June.

His nutrition is really questionable, yes. I take it Ovechkin doesn't really eat huge pasta bowls and Subways ALL THE TIME, but he really has no use for being that heavy anymore. He doesn't throw as many hits as he used to, and he shouldn't (with his accumulated injuries and age), and I doubt any other part of his game suffers if he is 10-15 lbs lighter.

Wahtever. No matter how much he adapts, 38-year-old players aren't supposed to be their team's main scoring threats in this league (particularly in this up-tempo era). Ovechkin was tied for 2nd in goals among players on 38-year-old seasons, behind Hull on the 2003 Red Wings and Bucyk on the 1974 Bruins (that had that Robby Boar (sp) guy). We should try to improve the roster.

doubt they drop him at all but even so 2nd line is the max they move him down and rightfully so.

The Rangers series Ovechkin played less on ES than Protas and his 13 goals in 3 seasons, just 1:15 a game more than Dowd and Pacioretty. We can't move Ovechkin from the 1st line, we don't have a 1st line.