The brothers were belorussians though, not russians. We don't claim them.
Regarding the topic: I've said it many times. You cant have more than 2-3 russians on the same team. They more than any other nation tend to group up together and it not just gives them some comfort in terms of having other guys who speak the same language and eat the same food but it gives them the feeling of safety, especially when one of them is as powerful as Ovechkin in DC. They're getting too complacent, too comfortable and eventually don't give a f***. They work hard when they're constantly pushed, when the circumstances just don't leave them any other choice. You either work your butt off or you're getting sent home. Of course it doesn't extrapolate on bums like Shumakov, he just didn't have what it takes to begin with. But when you got some serious talent like Kuzy you got that airbag that even if you suck for long stretches hey there's Ovi, he got my back and I'm soo talented I can get out of this funk any day I want. It's hard to encapsulate their psychology the way it would be fully understandable for western people. Some isolated specific examples not withstanding it's not good when you have too many of them on the team.
While there might be something beneath the muchly weird russofobia there in your post, its also quite black/white and selective to go specificially on Russians on this. Our guys happen to be Russians, but in general it can be any nationality tbh, and it definately depends more on the individuals and team chemistry as a whole.
These kind of "groups" form all over sports and "real life" aswell, and it doesnt take a certain nationality to form one. Saying
Russians dont work hard when you put enough of them together is just wrong wrong wrong.
Both teams who played on last seasons SCF had 3-4 Russians on their team and all of them were important contributors for their teams.
On the invidual level Ovie and Kuzy have always been this way. Laid back, relaxed, "yolo and enjoy life" kind of guys, and dont always look that engaged for the heat of the moment as we fans are. That doesnt necessarily mean that they slack on the work, or dont care. Kuzy maybe got a bit worse and more comfy after winning the cup, as he looks like his hanging here just for the lifestyle and fun. But overally they both have had cold streaks and periods of time when they looked disinterested before, its not the first time our board is calling them out. And even if ive been attacking Kuzy hard lately on the boards, this is just normal cycle. They have been here for such a long time, doing the exact same thing over and over again. Its expected to sometimes feel a bit "unmotivated". We are Caps fans so we overreact to it every time, but atleast im still hopeful they will do like they always do, get over it and be great players who lead us to the playoffs.
Orlov has pretty much achieved his roof-potential. Which is a decent top4-D. I dont think we can ask much more from him, especially as he has been one of our better players for the last 3-4 games after suffering an early season slump. What there indicates he is not working enough, or that he is on a comfort zone? There just isnt much more to grow into.
So its more about Samsonov tbh, that has been unimpressive from the standards. While Ovie and Kuzy propably arent the best role models for him, its also up to him to get over whatever weird phase he is going through. He has achieved nothing yet. He hasnt been a clearcut nr1 for any professional team he has played for, so if he for any reason feels comfortable on his current spot, its all on him on an individual level, not as an Russian. And also not on the superstar veterans who actually have earned their comfort zone through decade of hard work and success. Its not rare for prospects like Sammy to never pan out the way we want to, I dont think its fair to blame it on "Russian-factor", rather than on individual as itself.
But as it is, our Russians do have sort of built a wall between them and the rest of the team, or atleast thats how it looks for us watching outside. And that might obviously have effect on the whole team effort. Obviously noone on the team has anything against the Russians, but also they are not clicking as a team either right now.When we had Orpik he was sort of a gate keeper there who united both sides. Now that we dont have that gate keeper, we need to find another way to bring the group together.
Im frustfrated as anyone and overreacting here and there, but once (im sure it will happen) things start going our way and the superstar Russians snap out the cold streak its all good under the sun again.
