The Washington Capitals, once again, were sent home packing before the Eastern Conference Final. I do not think that its a team problem, I think it could be one particular player. And by the title of this post, you might have an idea who I am talking about.
Alexander Ovechkin is easily a top 5 player in the entire world. But when a guy, who is surrounded by ample amount of talent can’t lead his team out of round 2 EVER, something has to change. This time last year, I had the idea to trade Ovi, and you know what I am still on that train.
Why are you on that train Jack? The numbers speak for themselves. When you have been in the league for 11 years and have never made a conference final with one team, maybe its time to move on. Ovi is surrounded by talent, so it could be his leadership that has forced the Caps out. But whatever it is, maybe it isn’t working in Washington.
It took years for guys like Ray Bourque and Dave Anderychuk to finally win their first cups. But they did it with new teams, Bourque with Colorado and Anderychuk in Tampa. Maybe Ovi should take this into consideration, it could help him find that ring.
Teams I could see targeting Ovi are teams like Philly, New York(Rangers) and even San Jose. These 3 teams have proven they will go out and try to pick up something just to pick up that big name. With these teams it has not always worked, the Rangers are most notorious for this with the trades for Nash, Yandle and St. Louis. I would not doubt it if they were to do it again.
I strongly believe that Ovi is only in Washington for a couple more years. Maybe he pulls something and gets himself out of there this summer. Who knows, I am no genie.
The BrotherShip 
I’m on board with you there. He has become an extremely lazy, one dimensional player. This past season I have noticed that he stands around and watches the play instead of moving with and making the play. That laziness will only infect the rest of the group thus leading to an early off season. Look at his assist total compared to his goal total. That tells you what type of player he truly is. He’s a great goal scorer but that’s about all you’re going to get out of him. Trade him while the stock is high. Get some picks or prospects. It would also shed a good amount of cap space to sign a top tier free agent or two.
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totally agree with that man! He’s a guy who should have been moved a long long time ago. But it’s most likely that Washington is afraid to move him away, which is a total mistake.
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I’ll be honest, I used to like the guy but the last few years it seems like he’s checked out a bit. He’s got the potential to be an elite all around threat again but I think it’s outside of D.C. I think they look to hard at the regular season accomplishments and can’t see the real prize. Nobody cares about the Presidents Trophy unless it’s sitting next to the ONLY trophy…the Stanley Cup. Trade him and move on. Gretzky was traded multiple times.
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