Alexander Ovechkin and the collapse

[BlackGold]

I agree with most of the points made but I don't think you blow it up now. I still think this team can win the cup with a little more seasoning (most of the prime guys are still very young). They came pretty close last year to making it past the Pens and it did take most of the 'dynasty' type teams a couple of playoff trips to figure it out too.

So many of those young guys are UFA or RFA. If you they don`t make changes now, they may end up locked into bad contracts for years to come.

[Big Ev]

A lot of people can be blamed for the Caps failure, including Ovechkin and Boudreau. But they are certainly not at the top of the list. You are correct, imo, in putting the majority of the blame on players like Semin, Green, and Fleischmann. The only player, imo, who deserves no blame was Backstrom. If anything, this kid's stock only increased with this series. He was the best player (besides Halak) in many of the games.

I can't remember anything Backstrom did in games 5, 6, and 7.

[sky dog]

Just an observation,but i don't beleive Ovechkin was the same player after the olympics as was the problem with a few players. i don't know if it drained them or what. Ovie's stats and his intensity seemed to take a hit. I have always been amazed by Ovie's sustained intensity and have wondered if it was aided in any way. I know i'll get blasted for bringing up the juice factor but i do think it's a possibilty.

[WildHendy]

They got beat by a red-hot goalie...i think we have seen this before...Green did have a terrible series and the coaching did seemingly little to adjust as the series moved on but if the goalie on the other end played like a mortal they would have won...J.Carlson looked like a rookie several times a game as well showing zero hustle so i'm not sure why he seems to get a free pass...once again i point out it wouldnt have mattered...they were beat by a super-human effort in net...that is all.

[Leumas]

Maybe it's just that Ovechkin, Green and Semin aren't as great as everyone thinks they are.

Tons of talent there obviously but these guys have shown an inability to adapt their game. They actually seemed a little one dimensional for playoff hockey where the other team gets to formulate a game plan to shut them down.

Remember all the talk about leaving Green off the Olympic team as being a mistake. What are those people thinking now? I'll take a Dman like Doughty over Green every time. Real life or fantasy hockey.

Ovechkin obviously has the heart and drive. You can't deny that. His attitude needs some work. What happens when he loses half a step and/or a bit of speed off his shot? Does he have the ability physically AND mentally to adapt his game and still be dominant?

All the truly great players did more than just score.

[mister_mcgoo]

All the truly great players did more than just score.

and all the truly great players remained great long after their scoring waned...that's why a guy like Yzerman can play 20+ years in the league and continue to be one of the best players on the ice even though his role changed and other guys (like say Yashin) showed brilliant flashes early on but then fade away into obscurity

[ericdaoust]

I've noticed some over-analysis on their downfall. The playoffs are just chunks of 7 games. It's easy for a club to not play its best for a 7 game stretch. In the playoffs this means elimination.

One can only hope that Ovy and friends learn from the experience and become better players.

[Johner]

I agree with WildHendy when he said : J.Carlson looked like a rookie several times a game as well showing zero hustle so i'm not sure why he seems to get a free pass.....

I am a huge Carlson fan but I was very disappointed on the game winner when Green raced back and Carlson was gliding as his man skated right by him.

[Chuk]

yeah maybe heart is not the word I'm looking for, he's obviously got a lot of that...maybe 'leadership' is a better way to put it...true leaders pull their team up when they need it most, haven't seen much of that from OV so far, not in the Olympics, not in the playoffs

Heart is a tough thing to measure, especially when OV gets all teh attention of the other team.
Leadership is also pretty elusive because we really have no idea what goes on behind the scenes.

I remember reading Angus' post about Crosby "reinventing" himself for this season. I am watching Bruins players step up with offensive games, we have all seen countless Mtl players drop in front of shots.

At some point OV and Wsh will learn that the playoffs is about doing whatever it takes to win. Sometimes 40 and 50 goal scorers do not score, so they must find new ways to influence the game. Reverting to the basics of hockey is what allows teams to exceed the sum of their parts and win against better teams.

Halak (the backup at the start of the season) was obviously unbelievable, but if you look at the Mtl scoring, the shot blocking and the play of players like Subban a rookie and Hal Gil, you realize that traditional roles mean nothing and winning is everything.

Is there any doubt that OV could be one of the most devastating fore-checkers, antagonizers and physical players in the league if he ever set his mind to it? With his speed and strength he could have turned himself into a wrecking ball and made the Mtl D cringe and think about their own safety instead of simply blocking his shots.

Maybe the playoff is more about forgetting labels than living up to them.

[mister_mcgoo]

yeah Chuk, that's alot of what I'm driving at, both in this thread and the others. Its hard to put your finger on it exactly but what it amounts to is that a guy who is doing anything and everything to help his team win is impossible to ignore during a game because he's hitting everything that moves, he's blocking shots he's stealing the puck SH and going on a breakaway,etc. OV seems to be very visible in games where the Caps are dominating on the scoreboard but when its a hard fought game he's somehow less visible and I haven't been able to figure out why that it is. No question the Caps should have beat the Habs in the first round, and it wasn't just a loss to Halak in that series so there's something deeper afoot

[natgeo]

Winning in the playoffs is often by a razor-thin margin. To me this series was decided for three reasons:

1) Halak got into the heads of the Caps players to the point they were gripping their sticks too tightly and fumbling the puck on a regular basis. He played amazingly well, but the nervous Caps were not executing the way they normally would in the regular season. Green and most of the secondary players on the Caps (Semin, Fleishmann) didn't have the maturity level to relax in a high-pressure situation like this.

2) Luck. The Caps fired something like 130 shots on net in the final three games. I saw a number of occasions when Halak was just plain lucky.

3) Boudreau didn't adjust his game plan enough, although this is always hard to tell until after the fact. Sometimes the better thing to do is to stick with what has worked in the past, and if the Caps had won game six or seven, Boudreau would be the hero for staying with what got the Caps there in the first place and "not panicking."

What should the Caps do?

I personally think that shaking things up too much at this point would be a bad thing. Players need to go through this process of learning how to win in the playoffs, and I truly believe that Ovechkin, Green, Semin and the others will learn from this experience. Some players learn faster than others. I think there's room for some tweaking both in terms of roster and coaching, but I still believe this core of players can get it done.

[blammo]

I completely agree w Dobber et al about Ovy, I think the blame lies elsewhere. Ovechkin actually scored in Game 7 at a critical moment in the game to tie it up. The goal was called back on a terrible call by the ref. If that goal counts - and it should have - then the momentum of the game does a complete 180 and I would have bet the house at that point that Washington wins the game. Then we'd all be talking about how Ovy FINALLY came through in the clutch.

I cant believe that in all the news articles, blogs, and threads such as this one that this hasnt even been mentioned.

[slufoot]

They got beat by a red-hot goalie...i think we have seen this before...Green did have a terrible series and the coaching did seemingly little to adjust as the series moved on but if the goalie on the other end played like a mortal they would have won...J.Carlson looked like a rookie several times a game as well showing zero hustle so i'm not sure why he seems to get a free pass...once again i point out it wouldnt have mattered...they were beat by a super-human effort in net...that is all.

Well put. Couldn't have said it better myself.

[BladesOfSteel]

That's all purely by the numbers Dobber but where's the heart? He's got that C on his jersey for a reason, it means he's supposed to lead his team, he's supposed to drag them up when their spirits sag, he's supposed to lead by example and be the ultimate teammate. I saw a guy trying to do it all himself most of the time and jawing at his teammates for not getting him the puck, you'll never win a cup with that attitude I don't care how gifted you are. Sure there's lots of blame to go around, it wasn't just OV, it looked like a group of talented individuals playing a pickup game where they all agreed beforehand that the guy with the most goals didn't have to pay for beers afterwords...there was very little chemistry and flow to their game and only Backstrom seemed to be playing as a teammate. The point I'm trying to make is that when OV hits a wall of adversity he tries to skate thru it (or shoot thru it), he hasn't learned that you can't do it all yourself and that there are about a dozen more important things to being a Captain than how many goals you score

My thoughts exactly.

[Trahey]

The fact here is that haters are going to hate on a player regardless of what he does or doesnt accomplish.

It was definately not Ovechkin's lack of heart, skill or effort that caused the Caps to lose that series. Game 1 was not a good game for him, other than that he did exactly what he usually does. As Dobber stated, it was the secondary players, whom were great all season (Yes, I'm looking at you, Semin!) who just didn't show up. You can question the heart and effort of Green and Semin and a few others all you want, but to criticize Backstrom and Ovechkin is ridiculous, they did their jobs.

Not here to start a Crosby vs. Ovechkin love/hate war, but Crosby was less of a factor in the Pens series against Montreal than Ovechkin was in the Caps series against Montreal. If I recall correctly, Ovy had 10 points in 7 games vs. the Habs, while Sid had 5 in 7 games. Aside from that I also remember a very bad penalty Sid took in the opening minute of game 7, which led to a goal. and to clarify, it also was not Sid's fault that the Pen's lost either, he still played well.