The Official Alexander Ovechkin Thread

[Gumby]

Just to let you guys know, Ovechkin's Russian league contract only has 1 more year on it so with the impending lockout the Caps will likely leave him in Moscow for another year and bring him over in '05 without having to pay a cent to the RHF....would be cool to see him and Crosby battling it out for the Calder too.....wait, screw that, I wanna see him now!

Secondly, there is no possible way the Caps are moving...with or without Ovechkin. They have a good, stable stadium deal that will get much better in a couple years when Pollin sells Leonsis the rest of MCI center (the Caps don't get any $ from club seats and very little/ if any from the luxury boxes). Pollin is pushin 80 years old and Leonsis & co. have first dibs on everything so it's definitly gonna be a done deal....hopefully soon. So whoever brought up something about them moving please get off it...ain't gonna happen.

 

[Foppa_Rules]

There is still the question of military duty.

 

[Bill McNeal]

Seems to be a lot of questions about when he's gonna come over. Is there anybody in the know who can give me odds of him playing next year if there is a season? 50/50? Higher? Lower? Get him over here!

 

[Foppa_Rules]

I don't think you can put a number on it. A lot of things could happen. It all comes down to money. How much are the Caps willing to pay to buy him out of Russia and military duty? Also there is a thing I'm not clear on and that is that for the last few years Ovechkin has been studying at the Military Institute for Border Guards learning how to check passports and papers, and he is in a military club, Dynamo Moscow. I don't know how that will affect things. It's all very hazy.

 

[Foppa_Rules]

I've also noticed that Ovechkin has been very careful when talking about Zherdev. He has said many times whenever they ask him about Zherdev that he doesn't know anything. He says he doesn't talk about it with Zherdev when they call eachother, which they do often. That way he won't be asked any questions. He keeps saying "I'm not the jugde", ect. Plausable deniablity. We definetly have a lot of things to keep track of concerning his career in the near future. Hopefully this will all be settled quickly and the lockout won't be long, but we'll have to see.

 

[EroCaps]

I don't think you can put a number on it. A lot of things could happen. It all comes down to money. How much are the Caps willing to pay to buy him out of Russia and military duty? Also there is a thing I'm not clear on and that is that for the last few years Ovechkin has been studying at the Military Institute for Border Guards learning how to check passports and papers, and he is in a military club, Dynamo Moscow. I don't know how that will affect things. It's all very hazy.

Ovechkin could nightcap as airport security at Reagan National.

:lol

 

[Gumby]

There is still the question of military duty.

Well if he stays another year and finishes out his contract he'll fulfill any military obligations then.

 

[Gumby]

Ovechkin could nightcap as airport security at Reagan National.

:lol

Or he cold pull guard duty at the Russian embassy.

 

[Foppa_Rules]

Sadly the miltary term of enlistment in Russia is 2 years. But "cumpulsory" military duty is not uniformly enforced. They use that as a way to get larger transfer fees. What do they need hockey players in the military for? In what regiment did Ilya Kovalchuk serve? None. Why did they try to force Zherdev to be in the military even though Zherdev is Ukrainian by birth. Can you say "money"? It all comes down to money. I don't know if you guys know about the Chistov and Svitov thing that happened a few years back. They tried to come to the NHL and the Russians called them and said they were betraying their country and that they were deserters. Then the two went back to Russia and when one of them, I think Svitov, was in his Russian club's GM's office, the military came and seized him and put him in a barracks for a few months. If the Russians want their "cumpulsory" military duty thing to be credible, they are going to have to uniformly enforce it in ALL cases, not picky choosey depending on how much money they are offered. The players rarely recieve military training. The whole military duty thing is a formality, another way to get more money than they are supposed to get according to the deal they signed with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). European clubs are supposed to get 100,000 dollars transfer fee for each player taken from a team. The Russians want more, and they should get more than 100,000 for their players since they are trying to build a competitive league, but they should negotiate it in the new agreement, not try to force their fees on NHL teams by threatening to put their draft picks in the military.

 

[Chimaera]

If the Caps put up enough green... there will be no problem with him coming over for a season (if there is one)


While negotiations won't be easy... They will be possible.

 

[Foppa_Rules]

Who do you guys think Ovechkin will play with on the Caps? I think they have a couple good young players...

 

[MartinStLouis]

Who do you guys think Ovechkin will play with on the Caps? I think they have a couple good young players...

He will probably play with fellow Russian Alexander Semin and possibly even Zubrus, imagine the puck work on that line!

 

[Drake1588]

Who do you guys think Ovechkin will play with on the Caps? I think they have a couple good young players...

If you look at the present mix of players with the team and in the system, the top offensive players on the Caps are likely some combination of Ovechkin, Halpern, Zubrus, Semin, Fehr, Fleischmann, Johansson, Aulin, Klepis.

Halpern and Zubrus will log a lot of minutes at center in the short term. Zubrus will probably leave via unrestricted free agency at some point. Halpern may stick around willingly, but whether it is as a scoring-line player or in his comfort zone as a checking center is anyone's guess. It likely depends on the development of centers Aulin and Klepis, who both project to second-line center roles.

Still, those eight/nine players are the offensive catalysts on the team. Some may develop further than others, some may fizzle out, some may not be signed. Right now, that is the crop of players.


Interestingly enough, the Caps are loaded with right-handed shots up front. Halpern, Ovechkin, Semin, Fehr, Aulin, Klepis, Boyd Gordon, are all righties. Petr Sykora of the Czech Extraleague is also a righty, though it is far from clear whether of not he will be in long-term plans. McPhee plans to speak with him this summer when he goes over to meet with Klepis.

Lefty forwards of note include Zubrus, Fleischmann, Matt Pettinger, Brian Sutherby, Brooks Laich. Somewhat thin on lefty offensive players. Could have a bearing on the makeup of the powerplay unit(s).

 

[Mr.Brownov*]

Who's to say that Ovechkin will even cross over to North America next season?Look at the trouble Columbus had when lil Nik made the jump?He was legally eligible to leave Russia.Now it's Washington's turn to try to bring over the "Mario Lemieux" of Russia.I hope it'll be easy goins!

 

[Mr.Brownov*]

And what about his military obligations?That's something that i was gonna do a little researching on.It might of been somewhere on the boards.But maybe some of you have that answer for me.

 

[Foppa_Rules]

check page 4.

 

[EroCaps]

check page 4.

Here are a few fast loading Ovechkin/Malkin videos for everyone.

http://www.wam.umd.edu/~gdogum/main.htm

 

[Drake1588]

Here are a few fast loading Ovechkin/Malkin videos for everyone.

http://www.wam.umd.edu/~gdogum/main.htm

Nice!
(FYI, looks like the Ovy3 video is linked twice, including under the one listed as Ovy4.)

 

[Marshall]

Here are a few fast loading Ovechkin/Malkin videos for everyone.

http://www.wam.umd.edu/~gdogum/main.htm

NICE!

 

[Chimaera]

Here are a few fast loading Ovechkin/Malkin videos for everyone.

http://www.wam.umd.edu/~gdogum/main.htm

DROOOOL



He's pretty fast for his size. And I like the clips of him taking on the players and still getting to the net.

He'll be exactly what the Caps need.

 

[SwOOsh*]

Here are a few fast loading Ovechkin/Malkin videos for everyone.

http://www.wam.umd.edu/~gdogum/main.htm

Thanks for putting this on a fast server for everyone ero, it took me forever last night to download them (thanks for the info Foppa from the Official site)

 

[EroCaps]

Thanks for putting this on a fast server for everyone ero, it took me forever last night to download them (thanks for the info Foppa from the Official site)

I can't take credit for putting these on a fast server, they're a poster's over at washingtoncaps.com.

What does everyone think, he got the skillz? I didn't know Ovechkin was that fast and had such lateral movement from what people have been saying lately.

 

[Marshall]

First thing I noticed was his speed.

 

[EroCaps]

First thing I noticed was his speed.

Yes, that and his skating whilst protecting the puck will translate well IMO.

 

[Chimaera]

Yes, that and his skating whilst protecting the puck will translate well IMO.

Yeah. he does seem to have some amazing speed. I had to watch the Canada one again, just to see if those guys were standing still or what the problem was.

I know he's head and shoulders above some of those players as far as talent goes, but in the dynamo ones, he still looks faster then others.

He's not going to be able to do all of those stickhandling moves when he's up here, as Semin will be able to tell him, and in traffic, I think he's gotta maintain his puck possession a little more, he seemed to be dangling it out a bit far for when he has to adjust to some of these big, long armed defensemen he will come to face in the NHL.


But man oh man. Does he really fly on the ice. The one where he breaks back and leaves the defender was nice.

And his finishing moves are pretty solid. The backhand roof shot especially.