Ovechkin has spent his career playing the explosive hits
SUNRISE, Fla. — While Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin has long been known for his prolific goal-scoring abilities, an underrated aspect of the 37-year-old’s game — as many in the league can attest to — is his overall physicality.
Since 2005-06, not only does Ovechkin have 812 career goals in his 1,326 games played, he also has 3,417 hits. By comparison, Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby has 541 goals and 992 hits in 1,157 career games, while the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Steven Stamkos has 505 goals and 1,055 hits in 970 games.
Ovechkin has also played the second-most games (1,326) since 2005-06, clear proof of his durability despite recording the fourthmost hits since he entered the league.
But what is it like to actually absorb a hit from a 6-foot-3, 238-pound hockey legend? Mike Knuble, a teammate of Ovechkin’s in Washington late in his 16-year career, took one during a practice, and described the impact as being like “kinetic energy.”
Knuble, a right wing who played in 220 games for the Capitals, still thinks it was his fault for getting in the big Russian’s way. There were two drills going on simultaneously at both ends of the rink, Knuble “crossed his imaginary centerline” and in the blink of an eye, the two collided at full speed.
“As a player, you had to know where he was,” Knuble said. “He would just come real heavy and he gets there just crisp, there with energy … there is a pop. It is not just a dead weight. It is just like an explosion.”
Another ex-teammate, center Jeff Halpern, remembers how reckless Ovechkin would play when he was younger and how much he didn’t care who he hit, either when or how often. Early in his career, one of Ovechkin’s most notable calling cards on the ice was the preponderance of gold chains hanging from his neck. When Ovechkin really started moving and would begin his final approach before laying a hit, Halpern remembers the sound of the chains clanking together causing an overwhelming sense of dread.
Chandler Stephenson, who is now with the Vegas Golden Knights but played with Ovechkin in Washington for the first five years of his career, agreed that Ovechkin is the one player he is “scared of ” on the ice.
“When I was with him, I never saw him get knocked down,” Stephenson said. “It is kind of shocking how thick and big he actually is and it is almost like he is made in a lab and how you want to be made as a hockey player.
“I think that is something that gets overseen. He sits next to guys that are fully dressed and he looks bigger than them, even when they have shoulder pads on. It is something that catches you off guard when you see it.”
Chicago Blackhawks defensemen Seth Jones remembered how hard it was to playing against Ovechkin in a 2018 first-round playoff series as a member of the Columbus
Blue Jackets.
“Him and [Tom] Wilson together on a line were like wrecking balls,” Jones said. “When he is hitting and he is physical and he is forechecking and then he is scoring on top of it. He is one of the best players in the world. He is such a big body too, I don’t think people realize how big he is out there.”
St. Louis Blues veteran winger Vladimir Tarasenko is one of the few NHL players who hasn’t had the honor of being on the wrong end of an Ovehckin hit.
“I took a slash from him but most Russians in the league … we are respectable,” Tarasenko said. “He is good guy, you have to know who you are playing against. If you are playing against a guy that hits hard you stay aware.”
Rick Tocchet, a scoring star in the 80s and 90s who was recently named head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, called Ovechkin a “known-hitter,” and remains confused why he doesn’t get more hype for his game beyond the prolific goal scoring. During his first NHL
game, Ovechkin threw a body check so hard that it dislodged the support between two pieces of plexiglass along the end boards. Now in his 18th NHL season, he still has the ability to knock players off their skates and deliver powerful blows.
“He does it consistently over his career,” Tocchet said. “They are punishing hits, they are not fluffs. There are players with ice bags after games. Under the radar around the league.”
Former Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau chuckled as he compared Ovechkin’s hitting nature to that of a particular Bugs Bunny cartoon in which Bugs took on a particularly muscle-bound wrestler.
“There is a little bunny and he is wrestling a guy with muscles on top of muscles on top of muscles and that is what Ovi reminds me of,” Boudreau said. “If you hit him, you are the one that is going to get hurt and I’ve seen so many times where he collided knee on knee with somebody and the other guy goes down and Ovi just skates away. He is a brick wall.
“Once you hit him he becomes the predator and he comes after you. He doesn’t shy away and he doesn’t get hurt and his body is massive.”
Hits aren’t all that make Ovechkin a physical
player. Longtime Capitals defenseman Karl Alzner believes Ovechkin’s ability to be physical both in front of the net and along the walls can go unnoticed.
In Alzner’s first game as a Montreal Canadien after nine seasons in Washington, he remembers experiencing Ovechkin’s strength firsthand. They were in front of the net, jockeying for position when Alzner was able to push him from the top of the crease to the top of the circles. Then, all of a sudden, Ovechkin just stopped.
“I cannot push him anymore and I’m like okay I got to try to lift this guy’s stick and sure enough, a shot comes and all he does is make a quick little turn to make my stick go flying out of the way, he whips it back hit the puck in far side and I was like I had no chance,” Alzner said. “There was nothing I could have done differently on this play. When he wanted to stop and stay in that position, I wasn’t moving him … it is just crazy. He is just a force.”
Despite all the hits he’s thrown over the years, Ovechkin doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon. But, is there anyone else in the game who could match up with Ovechkin’s skill set? Or, could there ever be?
“Nope,” Boudreau said. “I’m serious. He is one in a million.”