With Cup win, Ovechkin just warming up
At 32, Capitals captain has evolved from pure goal scorer to championship leader
One down. How many more to go?
That’s the question after Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals finally ended years of heartbreak and disappointment by winning their first Stanley Cup on Thursday.
It took Ovechkin 13 long years to get his name on a trophy many believed would forever elude him. Now that he’s done it, don’t expect him to necessarily sit back and fade into the sunset.
Ovechkin is only 32 years old. That’s the same age Steve Yzerman was when he won his first Stanley Cup in what was his 14th year in the NHL. The following season, the Detroit Red Wings captain that many said lacked the leadership skills to go the distance, won it again. Four years after that, he had his name on a third championship.
In other words, this could be the beginning, not the end, of something special for Ovechkin.
“Hopefully, he wants to do it again,” Capitals GM Brian MacLellan said while standing on the ice at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas following the Cupclinching Game 5 victory. “I would assume we get some confidence out of this. Our young guys are growing, our older guys are experienced in how to handle pressure, how to handle tough situations. I see no reason why we can’t keep going.”
Indeed, don’t let the grey in Ovechkin’s hair and beard fool you. He’s still got plenty of game left in him.
Ovechkin won the Rocket Richard Trophy with a league-high 49 goals this season. Even more impressive was he didn’t rely on the power play to score them. He finished second to Edmonton’s Connor McDavid with 32 evenstrength goals, which is double what he scored a year ago. His 87 points were his most since the 2009-10 season.
This does not look like a career in decline. Not after he led the playoffs with 15 goals, tying Sidney Crosby for the most since Colorado’s Joe Sakic scored 18 in 1996. And not after he willed Washington to an unlikely title by getting his hands dirty and doing the sort of non-glamorous grunt work we previously assumed was below Ovechkin’s pay grade.
This is what leadership looks like. It’s not a goal, but rather a blocked shot or big hit. It’s hustling back to the defensive zone to break up a play. It’s finding ways to affect the outcome even when the points aren’t coming.
The Washington captain claimed 13 of 18 first-place votes to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs. And he did it every which way in this championship run. It was a side of his game we had not witnessed before. Like Yzerman, who transformed from a 137-point scorer to a Selke Trophy winner in the latter part of his career, Ovechkin appears to have unlocked the secret to team success.
It doesn’t mean he’s going to challenge Boston’s Patrice Bergeron and Los Angeles’ Anze Kopitar as the best defensive forward next season. But his game is more than just goals and points.
“It was a huge statement from him,” MacLellan said. “This was one of his better years that he’s played overall. I think he’s played a better team game all year, he’s been more of a leader the whole year. I mean, you see in the playoffs, he’s our best player — blocking shots, playing good in the D zone, playing good in the neutral zone, he’s doing all the little things and when he’s doing them it makes everyone else want to do them, too.”
So, can Washington repeat? Well, that might depend on whether head coach Barry Trotz decides to return and if MacLellan can figure out a way to fit unrestricted free agent John Carlson under the cap. But for the most part, the majority of this year’s roster is returning. And after finally getting over the hump, it’s returning with a King Kong-sized monkey off its back.
“It meant everything,” Ovechkin said following Thursday’s win.
This was one of his better years that he’s played overall. I think he’s played abetterteam game all year, he’s been more ofaleader the whole year.
“I think this moment, we waiting a long, long time. Since Day 1, (owner Ted Leonsis) told me one day we’re going to win it. It was the first year. I don’t even know what the team is. I knew he wanted it so bad. This organization wants it so bad. It’s nice to be part of it. It’s nice to be in this organization all 13 years. It just was joy. Was tough time, but we fight through it and we get result.”
The pressure is off. Like Yzerman and the NFL’s John Elway, who won his first Super Bowl when he was 36 and did it again the next year, Ovechkin has managed the seemingly impossible.
Who’s to say he won’t do it again — and again?