The Capitals Rollercoaster Season: A Deep Dive into Ovechkin’s Performance

The Capitals Rollercoaster Season: A Deep Dive into Ovechkin’s Performance

on today’s show Gil of the Power playay Point podcast joins me as we review this past Seasons the UPS the downs and Alex oetkin who got off to his slowest start but finished with 31 goals who is this Alex oetkin we’ll discuss next on this edition of lock on capitals your locked on capitals your daily podcast on the Washington Capitals part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day well hello and welcome into this edition of lockon capitals I’m so glad you decided to join me today as always this podcast is free and available on all the major platforms including the Sirius XM app and on YouTube and I want to thank you for making this your first listen each and every my name is Dan homy I’ve covered the capitals for the last three seasons for locked on and various other outlets before that I’m also the host of the weekly show called the capitals minute cast available wherever you find your podcasts you can find me on Twitter it’s danc caps 218 you can find the show on Twitter it’s lockon caps and the best way that you can help grow the show is to subscribe to lockon capitals on YouTube and comment anything down below today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel make every moment more right now new customers get $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet visit fanduel.com locked on to get started so in this edition of locked on capitals Gill of the power playpoint podcast joins me as we review this past season the UPS the Downs the the fact that the capitals actually made it to the playoffs we’ll talk about that a little bit later we will talk about the struggles of Alex oetkin to at least to start the season and how he was able to overcome a little bit later we will talk about his sticks and how much did that factor into his suc uh his success or the lack thereof and then we’ll talk about his nutrition and chemistry with his linm in this edition of lockdown capitals we are joined by Gil of the Power playay Point podcast Gil welcome to the show uh thanks Dan uh nice to be back again uh talking another round of caps hockey with you it is it’s a it’s it’s great to have you on here and like I talked about in a bit of the pre interview sometimes it’s you know it’s good to hear some other capitals voices out there as well and you have your own podcast so uh some good Insight from another capitals fan and podcast host let’s talk here about the past season I think that the capital’s making it to the playoffs period uh was a bit of a victory now that we are more distanced uh from this past season what what is your thoughts on this last season the capitals making it to the playoffs was that a victory or them getting eliminated in four games was that kind of did that diminished what the capitals did well if if you want to take the glass half full approach then it definitely was a victory uh if you take into consideration uh most if not all of the so-called pundits did not even have our capitals finishing in a playoff spot um probably not even within breathing distance of a playoff spot so um I I take it as a victory because I I would happen to be one of those pundits I didn’t think I thought they would give Chase I thought they would uh give it a great effort I didn’t think they’d make the playoffs um but the fact that they did yes I do take that uh as a victory now you never want to go out in a sweep of course but if it’s got to be done against the Trophy winners then why not and they did play them a tough four game so I don’t see that as a loss at all so for you ultimately what went wrong I know we could point to Alex oetkin and we can talk about him a little bit more in a minute here um in depth that is was Alex oetkin was he you know being non-existent was that a big part of it was it uh that Peter lulette was so familiar with the capitals that he was prepared for everything because uh it’s a bit interesting that the capitals were able to answer the Bell on the biggest stages against some big teams and they didn’t find a way to even eek out a single Victory against the Rangers what was up with all that I just think it was a matter of them uh pretty much expending all of their energy just to get into the playoffs I think that was pretty much all of it right there uh it it was fatigue uh certainly there were a lot of injuries they had to deal with they had to they had they were missing Nick Jensen for the last several games um I believe uh I think uh uh van Trevor van rdik was dealing with an injury as well though he managed to get in get in the games um they were relying on rookies for pretty much half their Decor the whole series um and yeah there was obvious fatigue and they just again they just expended so much energy just to get into the playoffs and it it it showed and I don’t think it was really much more than that um you can say that the Caps were outclassed and that that you know you wouldn’t be telling a lie by saying that uh but between those two things that was really it no really magic formula as to why they lost other than that not to me if there’s one thing that you could have changed uh that you thought would have got a better result from the capitals against the Rangers what is that one thing that you would have changed uh to make them more competitive well I I don’t claim to be a coaching expert but definitely had they if they were able to make some sort of adjustment on their penalty killing unit um to uh take better advantage of of that because what it what it turned out to be uh is that the the Rangers made their living off of special teams and uh so had they been better able to uh come up with some sort of answer for their power play now even the worst Power plays don’t give up more than 20% of the time a goal 20% of the time so if they could have held it to something around that standard probably would have been a lot more competitive and of course all of the short-handed goals that they gave up when they were on the power play that certainly didn’t help so some sort of uh improved play during special teams probably would have made some sort of difference and if we take a look uh at last season here what was the identity of last season’s capitals as we look at it as we can kind of look back on it retrospectively uh you know they got off to that slow start and many people pointed to oetkin and that Spencer carbury was a new coach and then around Thanksgiving they were in it a lot of the analytics pointed to well they’re in a good position I want to say they were in second place in the Metro at Thanksgiving break and then uh the wheels fell off again uh so if we were to to summarize last season’s capitals team uh were they a great team were they a team that just kind of eak their way by or were they a team that was willing to to overcome adversity I would say the last of those three was uh would be the most accurate um uh I if you want to say they they kind of eak in uh some would say lucked in or backed in um yes they did they did kind of play with fire at times when you when they had the lead and they should have held on to the lead in in certain games and ended up losing those games um sure uh but overall um you know they had to deal with they had to deal with a you know not getting production from oetkin for the first third of the year uh they had to deal with their share of injury sometimes even more so um they had to deal with a new coach I mean that’s nothing out of the ordinary but he had to implement his scheme and it it took a lot of time for this team to buy in um so if you want to call that all all that adversity then yes they they found a way to figure all of that out come together as a team at the right time win the games that they needed to win just to make make it to the playoffs but as Mr Carberry will tell you that’s that’s not the whole goal that’s that’s why he said what he said all right so coming up here after the break we will talk about Alex oetkin sticks his equipment how much did that factor into his lack of success to start the season and then later we will talk about the outlook for Obie next season Straight Ahead summertime means baseball the NBA finals and more and you can bet on all of it with FanDuel right now new customers get $200 in bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet that’s 200 bucks you can use to bet on everything from the finals MVP to who’s going to hit one out of the park and guys sometimes you’re watching these games say it’s a Nationals game say it’s the NBA whatever the case might be and say you’re not that into it I have the solution open up the FanDuel app put a little bit of money on the game all of a sudden the game is that much more exciting so visit fanduel.com Lockton and make a big win to your summer bucket list FanDuel America’s number one sports book are you watching Fox Sports or ESPN on your TV all day have to turn down the volume with all the shouting make the switch to lockon sports today a free 247 sports streaming Channel program for you every day to bring you the biggest stories without all the screaming locked on sports today brings you the can’t miss analysis opinions and news streaming 247 on YouTube or the free Amazon Fire TV channels app part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day all right we’re joined today by Gil of the power play Point podcast let’s next uh pivot to Alex oetkin uh got off to his slowest start at least in the goal scoring Department I know he got his contributions as far as assists are concerned but his slowest start in in myself and and many others thought that you know he’s not going to be able to snap out of it uh then the allstar break he went to Dubai and he came back refreshed uh what what was the story for you of Alex oetkin getting off to such a low start and then finding uh his way towards the end of the season tell me your thoughts on Alex oetkin up and down season well whe whether you want to attribute it to an injury or just uh just not keeping up with a a regimen or a routine in the off season uh he obviously did not start the year in game playing shape um and that that kind of lingered all through training camp and and all through the first dozen or so games and next thing we know um you know he was not scoring as many goals as we were all hoping and age plays a part of it obviously but um I I think the overwhelming Factor was he just simply wasn’t in game shape we’ll never know was it an injury or or something else going on I I also heard Rumblings of uh mentally maybe he was not or well more accurately spiritually he wasn’t all there because of you know dealing with you know the death of his father and uh you know i’ I’ve lost my father on a personal note and I it took me quite a bit of time to get over that so that might have been weighing on him as well and you know certainly if you kind of roll all that together it’s it’s certainly not something that’s easy for one man to deal with even if you’re talking about an Al Alex oetkin and then he got that time in Dubai and then revitalized himself just enough to carry the team for the last few months in a sense and do enough to get them in the playoffs so I mean that there might be more to it than that but from my point of view that that was it and if we take a look at him here like we talked about getting off to his slowest start scoring only eight goals through the first 43 games ending the season finishing with 31 and if there’s a lesson to be learned in any of this it was John Carlson it was Tom Wilson Hing never doubt the big man and I thought that was just you know a good team attitude but as it turns out they were right Alex oetkin finishing with 31 goals if you would had told me that before the All-Star break I may have laughed in your face that brought him up to 853 career goals 41 shy of tying Wayne Gretzky’s record of 894 talking about Alex oetkin catching Gretzky uh is that something you think he’s going to be able to do Under This current contract or do you think it will need an extension um I hate to sound duplicitous but um it would not surprise me if he did catch Wayne Gretzky in in the two years it would also not surprise me if he didn’t and assuming he comes up say less than a dozen or so goals short he asks for a a one year um because he’s he’s the kind of competitor that would feel like he has some unfinished business um if that were the scenario um so hard to say but ultimately I think he will catch and break the record um as long as it doesn’t take him you know in too much amount of time to get there I think two to three seasons isn’t re is certainly a reasonable amount for him to get there I just want to add that I I think I think too much has been made of the record uh and I certainly hope that this season the Caps making the playoffs goes a long way towards you know the Casual fans seeing this team as more than just him chasing the record yeah and that’s one of the things that Alex oetkin has said as well is he said listen to all you I know it’s important that I catch grety and I think part of Alex oetkin cares of course but I think and I’m going to take him at his word for this that him the team winning another Stanley Cup while he is here is more important to that and I think that if the team is playing well I think that if he’s playing well that will just all come along naturally uh I think at least to a certain extent his slow start could be attributed to the press and everyone saying when are you going to catch Gretzky when going to catch Gretzky when are you going to catch Gretzky that uh as he kind of repositions himself and his Outlook I think saying that the capital’s winning another Stanley Cup is the right attitude to have and if the team’s playing well that’s just going to come along naturally let’s talk about uh something that’s a little bit more in the weeds I’ve heard uh Sammy silur talk about it I’ve heard some of other capitals beat writers talk about it is his stick uh and uh you know that he was with Bower he was with CCM uh he ended the season uh with a stick that just bared the eight logo that even mesenko was also using but you know for me uh when I hear that I think that you know that’s a dog at my homework excuse uh uh I was a drummer for years and if I screwed up a song and I said well it was you know this went wrong people like you didn’t put in the practice Dan or say you know the guitar player screwed up the solo they didn’t blame the strings you know you should blame the effort how much of Alex oetkin stick do you think factored into it and do you think there’s some legitimacy there considering how strong he finished the season well I I never played the game at any uh any major level or even minor level to to uh to brag about but I do know that hockey players are creatures of habit um and uh if you’re not comfortable with your equipment it it affects you it can affect you um whether or not that was the guts of the problem he was having um even after he was played playing himself into game shape say uh around game 20 I would say he should have been back into the full swing um of things um I’m not going to say that that whatever problem he was having with his stick was the major reason but you know again I I I think something about that was he was he just wasn’t comfortable um I’ll put it that way he it it there was something obvious about his game where he was not 100% comfortable and I think it contributed to it but again I don’t think it was the major reason why he was having problems and it’s an interesting tactic by CCM which we know is a big manufactur of hockey gear that they said that they’re going in a new direction that you know the new direction is lighter sticks and listen if Alex oetkin Who currently sits number two all time in goal said this is the stick that I want if I have any power around CCM I’m going to go ahead and make Alex oetkin whatever he wants uh is that your belief because you know you take a look at it if he does catch Gretzky and he doesn’t come to terms with CCM or Bower he’s doing it with his own independent stick company as of right now uh that’s not a good look for CCM if I if I was pushing the buttons at CCM I would love Alex oetkin to score that goal with a CCM stick wouldn’t you say uh that would make the most business sense um but ALS also and um I’m I’m going to go ahead and cast a few aspersions here um CCM is a Canadian company if I’m not mistaken and um I would say um for a lot of certainty there’s probably some anti-russian sen sentiment there it would not surprise me one bit um so they probably look at him and say well you know you’d be great for our business but we don’t really care you’re a Russian um so I I would not be surprised if that played some part in it um but ultimately I think uh they looked at they looked at the bottom line and felt for some reason this this would be this would be best uh but I I don’t I don’t know all right so coming up here after the break we will talk about Alex oetkin and his nutrition and the promises made to him that he would play on a competitive team what does that ultimately mean at the end of the day I’ll discuss Straight Ahead yeah it’s an interesting thing so there is we’re talking Alex oetkin with Gil of the power playpoint podcast here on lockon capitals this summer and we’re talking about next here his diet um it’s interesting as you know you hear a lot of the athletes you know they have little to no body fat they eat you know boiled chicken and broccoli and live just a really a flavorless life I’m going to go ahead and say and you take a look at Alex oetkin who likes to has Coca-Cola in his water bottle he eats a lot of pasta uh he eats the Subway subs with with his flaming hot Cheetos um I hate to go in the weed here a little bit here but what are your thoughts on I is that factoring into you know I have a dad B but I’m 47 and I don’t play hockey it really doesn’t matter uh but Alex oetkin is a premier athlete do you think he should push aside the fast junk food I’m going to go ahead and say and should he concentrate on being his most healthy self uh to give himself the best opportunity well as athletes go yes you want to see we on the outside we want to see uh them take care of their their bodies um but I I remember a passage from John Madden’s first book uh and there was a part in it where he talked about uh when his when he coached and uh he noticed his players having pregame meals and one of his one of his players uh who was an allpro lineman liked to have a uh a heaping a hot fudge Sunday with a heaping pile of whipped cream and a cherry on top and uh he never questioned it because as he said if that’s what Stokes up my allpro lineman gets him ready to play H I won’t question it I won’t get in his way so again it has to do with what he’s comfortable with if that’s what gets him by if that’s you know what fuels him to be able to play then you know so be it it might look strange to the rest of us uh but you know not no two human bodies are alike so there must be something to that regimen that’s helped him although you know again he’s getting older so we kind of want him to take care of himself a little bit better but even so if that’s what’s worked for him then you know so be it I suppose yeah I remember a story by Craig lachlin in his playing days which has been quite some time but he talked about some of his teammates would smoke a cigar and have a hot dog and a beer and go out and play so a lot has changed and I think for the better uh next let’s talk about maybe the lack of success for Alex oetkin had to do and he’s mentioned this that he had a lack of chemistry with his Center four years it was Nick Backstrom and then it was Afeni ketov we know that Nick Backstrom stepped away indefinitely kzi got dealt out to the Hurricanes um how much do you think it has to do with Obie having a lack of chemistry with stro uh or you know all the other centers that kind of cycled through there do you think that uh Mac should go out this off season and find someone that’s going to jail and be that Premier Center that’s going to feed to those sweet passes to the great eights um so to tackle the first part of your question um I would say that has something to do with it um uh certainly he’s not he hasn’t been around uh Dylan stro uh as long so they’re had they have not had that uh time to develop any chemistry and of course uh ketov having his issues um off the ice uh finally translated too much onto the ice so that certainly didn’t help things when he got his shot uh sporadically as the number one Center so that that all didn’t help as far as uh personnel-wise should they go after a premier number one Center um well I’m of two minds about that it would be great if they could um because it would certainly help oetkin game and probably would help the uh the rest of the team um unfortunately um the free agent centers that are out there that would uh fit that bill are all over 30 by my count um so that kind of speaks to the flip side of my argument which is do they want to go that route and spoil the youth movement which has been so far uh something of a success um so really that is Dan that is going to be a very probably the biggest question they’re going to have to answer this offseason which way do they want to go as far as that uh you know the the center position do they trust stro do they trust their younger guys or do they want to make that Splash and that’s probably going to Define that and uh what TJ ooshi decides to do will probably Define the results of this coming season uh talking about Alex ovan un locked on capitals with Gil of the power playo podcast Let’s uh talk next here about Alex oetkin and and his future plans uh do you think that he will play his final season uh in the KHL or do you think that uh when he hangs up this for the capitals that will be it uh I think uh he will when he’s done with uh his contract uh here um whether it’s this current contract or he adds on to that then he will play one final season uh with Dam Moscow in in his homeland uh I really think he will he will stick by that uh if anything to to honor his Heritage to honor his father um and that’s that’s just that’s just you know that’s been his plan from day one is to wind things up in in his home country um so when all is said and done he will probably play his very last game in a in a a d Moscow uniform so there’s been a lot of talk about promises made to the great eight about playing on a competitive team I think Terk elbashir was the one that originated those comments uh that there was a talk made to Alex achkin that he wouldn’t f a tear it down to the studs rebuild uh was the team that we’ve seen here last year and let’s say the last few years would you say it’s a competitive team or do you think it would be worth going out and getting some upper echelon players uh you know the big names out there marcheso uh there’s uh a bunch of different names that could potentially be available on July 1 um do you think that’s the right tactic or should the capitals continue to go all in on this youth movement with McMichael laier m shenko those kind of players well it’s it’s hard to say uh I don’t know if the current lineup um is going to be able to duplicate the result they got last year not unless somebody um the name one of the names you mentioned lapier mirash nenko uh Conor McMichael uh not unless one or two of those names takes something of a good step forward this coming year now it’s it’s entirely possible that they do but unless they do we could you know it’s not all that inconceivable that they end up missing the Playoffs again given that the Eastern Conference the the middle tier of teams is going to be once again very competitive um but and and again I hate to sound like I’m double talking here but I I’m not really sure if going out and getting a free agent possibly upsetting the chemistry is the way to go it has to be the right guy it has to be a guy that makes the most sense um for the whole team not just to get them out of their scoring slump um could that guy be a A marcheso or uh maybe even a Steven Stam Co um could be uh you’re talking about two guys that are veterans and know how to make a team a contender know how to make a team better um I’m not saying I’d necessarily want either of those two guys but it would have to be somebody like that that would not take as much time acclimating to the rest of the squad as it is now all right I want to thank Gil for joining me on this edition of lock on capitals make sure and check out his podcast called the power playpoint podcast available wherever you find your podcasts and I want to thank you for joining me once again on this edition of locked on capitals your only daily year own podcast covering the Washington Capitals and I want to thank all of you that listen on the audio side and watch this on YouTube you are ultimately what makes this show successful when you’re done here head on over to lockton’s 247 streaming channel available on the free Amazon Fire TV channels app and on YouTube all right once again I want to thank you for joining me on this edition of locked on capitals part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day my name is Dan Hol and I’ll talk to you again next time

In this episode of Locked on Capitals, Dan and Gil Hannebohn from the Powerplay Point Podcast provide a detailed review of the past season, highlighting the highs and lows. They delve into the Capitals’ journey to the playoffs and their subsequent elimination in four games. They also analyze Alex Ovechkin’s slow start and impressive finish and explore the impact of his choice of hockey sticks on his performance. In the final segment, they thoroughly examine Ovechkin’s challenges in establishing chemistry with the centers he played alongside.

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