For years, fans watched with amusement, pleasure and consternation as Alex Ovechkin bulled his way through the NHL. The question: How good is The Great 8?
No, he isn't Wayne Gretzky reincarnated. But it's also clear Ovechkin isn't the second coming of Pavel Bure.
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What we are seeing from Ovechkin at his peak is something rare and awesome. As he nears 500 career goals, Ovechkin is the NHL's best player, an immensely talented scorer who no longer is considered a liability and a threat at the same time.
As Ovechkin pushes the Capitals toward the Stanley Cup playoffs, he is more than just a scoring machine en route to another Maurice Richard Trophy. True, nobody in the NHL comes close to his goal total this season. He has that innate ability to find the quiet areas on the ice, something every great scorer has. But he feeds the Capitals, not the beast within. And he isn't a turnstile on defense, as Bure was.
Neil Greenberg's column in The Washington Post makes a solid argument why Ovechkin over the first decade of his NHL career was the most important player to his team among people not named Gretzky.
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Even The Great One admires The Great 8. In a quote cited by Greenberg, Gretzky says Ovechkin has matured as a player, adding the ability to do what his team needs in addition to what he wants.
And to think there were murmurs before the season that it was time for the Caps to let Ovechkin saunter home to play in the KHL. Adam Proteau of The Hockey News made a good argument to support that notion. Turns out, Ovechkin had other ideas.
Barry Trotz arrived in Washington to coach the Caps with a warning about Ovechkin. Bad news be damned: Trotz, according to ESPN, lit a fire under Ovechkin and got him steaming.
Yahoo! Sports also puts Ovechkin under scrutiny, saying: "Ovechkin can probably keep up this level of scoring for a pretty healthy length of time." Age will be a factor — he turns 30 in September — but the guy generates scoring opportunities and puts shots on net like few people in hockey history.
Indeed, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.ca reports Ovechkin can't be viewed as predictable, nor can he be considered a one-man gang. In fact, criticism of him based on years past is just plain wrong.
With Thursday's victory over the Canadiens, the Caps jumped to a second-place slot in the Eastern Conference playoffs. They won't catch the Rangers in the Metropolitan Division but they at least will start with home-ice advantage over the third-place team, and they likely will overmatch the Islanders or the Penguins in the first round. They must be stronger in their defensive play, and their goaltending must be stout.
Once the Stanley Cup playoffs begin on April 15, the Capitals will be dangerous. Thanks to Ovechkin, the bull with mad skills.
Greatest goal scorer of his generation? Absolutely. Now all Ovechkin needs to really be great is success in the playoffs when he uses those magnificent hands to sweep the Stanley Cup away from Gary Bettman.