It was fair. They blew BIG series leads. They lost to far lesser teams. That has not been the case the past couple of years. They were irreparably injured in 2019 and were outcoached in the bubble.
I think it's an odd side-note that they've blown some series leads, perhaps more than other teams in the NHL, but I think it's more incidental than something about the team that predisposed them to choke.
Maybe the only series I think they blew, at least in the Ovechkin era, was in 2010. But even then it took a historically good goaltending performance on one side and a really bad one on the other side to make it possible. It happens. Every other team they lost to was probably equally as good, if not better.
2008: Flyers, probably an even match
2009: Penguins, they were a much better team
2010: Canadiens, the one series I might agree they blew
2011: Lightning, a better team
2012: Rangers, a better team
2013: Rangers, about equal
2015: Rangers, about equal
2016: Penguins, a better team
2017: Penguins, about equal
2019: Hurricanes, about equal
2020: Islanders, a better team
And they even beat some teams that I'd say were probably better: 2012 in particular against the Bruins, and 2018 the Penguins, Lightning, and Knights were probably all better teams on paper.
The point is parity has been high for most of the Ovechkin era.