Brian MacLellan met with the media for nearly forty minutes today, and gave some very open and honest answers on several subjects including the standing of his captain and face of the franchise Alex Ovechkin. From the Associated Press’ Stephen Whyno, we get the full answer regarding Ovechkin:
People are looking for a major solution to what we have going on. I think part of it is they watch certain things in his game and then it shows up and they say, ’That’s not acceptable.’ But he’s a big part of our franchise, a big part of our history. He’s been a big part of where we’re at as an organization and just to casually say, ’Let’s trade him for what, for who?’ I don’t think it makes sense from an organizational point of view. Maybe at some point if there’s a legitimate hockey deal that came available, but I don’t know that that’s where we’re at right now. I just think he’s got a history here, he’s a big part of this franchise and he’ll continue to be going forward.
Obviously, trading Ovechkin was something dreamed up by many frustrated Capitals’ fans and critics after their latest early exit from the NHL playoffs. Not only is he still a very effective goal scorer in the league, but he has tremendous marketing value in Washington and abroad, and has a contract that would be extremely difficult to move even if they wanted to. That said, MacLellan’s answer does leave the door open a crack for a trade in the future, and does seem to indicate some frustration with his level of play at the end of the season.
According to Tarik El-Bashir of CSN Mid-Atlantic, MacLellan also told reporters that Ovechkin is going to have to “train in a different way” this summer in order to keep up with the changing dynamics of the league. As the NHL continues to get younger and faster, Ovechkin’s power game is starting to slip into the past. That’s not to say that he doesn’t have the skating ability to compete, and at 31 he is far from over-the-hill. With four years left on his current contract, Ovechkin will earn $10MM per season (with a $9.54MM cap-hit) until 2021. His place in hockey history is already etched, though has never won a Stanley Cup.