Capitals Star Ovechkin Earns Hart Votes | Logan Thompson’s Vezina Rise | Alexeyev’s Future Uncertain
ovetkin’s heart finish and Logan Thompson’s Vzna rise next on this edition of Locked on Capitals you’re locked on Capitals your daily podcast on the Washington Capitals part of the Locked On Network your team every day well hello and welcome into this edition of Locked On Capitals part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day my name is Dan Holy 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 and as always I want to thank you for making this your first listen of the day so in this edition of Locked on Capitals we talk about the situation surrounding Alex uh listen it is not something that the Capitals really want to talk about as Alex if you can recall was involved in that drunken altercation what is the latest with Alex i’ll talk about that a bit later i’ll talk about Logan Thompson’s Vzna Surge uh for a lion’s share of the season he was in the front runnings to be the Vzna winner uh but Connor Hellabuk uh rose supreme in that category but uh what did we learn about Logan Thompson and how key was he in the capital success uh but just to get it going here we’re going to talk about Ovuchkin’s remarkable season and I’ll talk about uh where he came in in the heart voting but not even the heart voting if we can just recall for a moment here what kind of bounceback season he had and uh you know it’s interesting to talk about Alex Ovetkin the greatest goal scorer of all time yes we can say that now the greatest goal scorer uh for the longest time he was chasing down Gretzky and can he do it this season and next season and he’s the you know he’s one of the best goal scorers but right now we can officially say uh that Ovetkin is the greatest goal scorer of all time so that you know is quite an accomplishment in and of itself um that you know that Gretzky record seemed like something that was untouchable that there’s not a player out there that could ever touch that record but he did that uh he was able to catch and pass Gretzky under his current contract uh so quite an accomplishment and I guess that’s what I’m talking about when I’m talking about a bounceback season uh because if we can rewind time to just last season uh when he got off to that slowest start in his entire career put up like was it nine goals at the all-star break uh went over to Dubai rode around on a camel and just was a man on a mission uh when he returned after the all-star break so for me as someone that covers this team there was some kind of question about there about what kind of Alex Ovetchkin were we going to see this past season um and what are some of the things that we learned is you know being 39 years old right now that he had to modify his training regimen a little bit he can’t hit it the same way that he did when he was say 27 years old but what we saw from Alex Ovetchkin uh this past season defied odds defied expectations because you expect to see a certain amount of depreciation uh in play over time you know uh in day-to-day life 39 years old isn’t that old but in professional terms in hockey terms 39 well it’s getting up there and what we saw from Alex Ovetkin was no dip in production so let’s dive into that uh in segment number one here and let’s start with Alex Ovetkin in this episode and uh how about finishing eighth in heart trophy voting at the age of 39 that’s quite an accomplishment to even be in the conversation it’s it’s ridiculous i mean let’s take a second to appreciate what he did in year number 20 and I recounted some of those many things that he did and um you know a lot of questions I guess about the future of Alex Ovetkin and the Capitals but talk about just knocking it out of the park what he did this last season if you want to take a look at the back of his hockey card he had 44 goals 73 points in just 65 games and uh you know in everything that happened I think sometimes it’s easy to forget about what happened that whole hit that lower leg hit on Jack McBain from the Utah Hockey Club now the Mammoth obie broke his leg in November if you can remember that and a broken leg and he still led the team in goals in shots in points per game power play goals all of it and uh he broke Gretzky’s record along the way you know like what more can we say about Alex Ovetkin other than he just continues to keep knocking it out of the park and uh he got a first place vote i’m talking in the heart trophy voting yeah there was one out there that looked at his season and said that’s the most valuable player in the NHL i think it’s not too hard to guess on who that GM that voted for that he also got a second place vote uh four fourth place votes and 15 fifths eighth overall you know fitt fitting honestly if you take a look at it that um you know uh the players that are out there uh that uh were ahead of him in voting um but you know when you take a look at Ovetkin it’s not the kind of thing that you normally think of that um you know when you’re in your 39th year on this planet and you know playing 20 years of hockey that you’re still going to get that kind of production uh but Alex Ovuchetkin has done just that and I think you know that Alex Ovetchkin still has a lot to prove uh that he does have one year left under contract in a lot of ways he has you know crossed off a lot of the things that he has wanted to take care of uh but I still think that there’s more that he wants to prove and what are what is one of the biggest thing that stands out some people are saying you know he’s chasing down a thousand goals and that might be the case uh but I still think what something that burns inside of him is something that you saw especially in round one against the Canadians is he still wants to win another cup with this team he was able to do the unthinkable thing or the unthinkable thing at the time and win one in 2018 uh he has one year left and I think that um if Chris Patrick can build a good supporting cast around him I think it is definitely possible because if we take a look at the Capitals this past season they seemed infallible bulletproof uh that was uh you know a title or a thumbnail title for a couple of my podcasts bulletproof untouchable that it seemed like this team could do no wrong and that was due in large part uh to the great play of the captain of your Capitals Alex Ovuchkin continues to light it up and why I’m enthusiastic and have high expectations uh going into next season but talking about what he did for the heart the heart went to Connor Halabuk uh we’ll get to him soon here but this just adds to the legacy of Ovatkin the only cap to ever win the heart and he’s done it three times already this wasn’t a sentimental vote he earned it uh so quite an accomplishment for Alex Ovetkin and oftentimes you know we’ll talk about the goal record you know and what he was able to put up but it’s a lot more than that it’s all these different accomplishments we’re talking the heart we’re talking winning the cup and all the other awards that he’s won from here to there so to think that Alex Ovuchetkin is going to you know end his season or his career rather in a whimper I don’t think that’s going to be the case uh what happens after next season I guess we ultimately don’t know but what we know for right now is Alex Ovetkin at 39 going into his his 40th year on this planet going into next season uh I don’t see any dip in his production i just see him getting better and better all right so coming up here after the break we’ll talk about Logan Thompson and uh being one of the front runners for Lion’s share of the season for Vzna voting i’ll talk about him straight ahead ever check your banking account and wonder where did all my money go between dining out online shopping and entertainment it’s easy to lose track that’s where Monarch Money comes in your personal CFO giving you full 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first year that’s monarchmoney.com code locked on NHL for half off your first year all right welcome back into this edition of Locked On Capitals part of the Locked On Network your team every day you can find me over on Twitter it’s dancaps28 you can find the show on Twitter it’s locked on Cap so in segment two uh we’re talking about Logan Thompson and uh just kind of the bounceback season that’s kind of a theme here um you know it’s funny in segment two or segment in segment one I talked about Ovetkin in a bounceback and bounce back in a different kind of way logan Thompson had a change of team uh that we know that the Capitals traded for and acquired Logan Thompson uh last summer and uh it was an interesting deal as we know Darcy Keer uh who was you know supposed to be the goalender of the the future for the Capitals the long-term future well he didn’t really fit in in Washington so he got traded out to LA in a deal that sent pure Luke Dubois uh to the Capitals so my feeling was was that Charlie Lingren was going to be the starter maybe you were thinking the same thing as well and maybe Hunter Shepard would back him up uh but one of the things that Brian Mlen did uh last summer was he had the ability to look at the team and said you know that’s kind of an unproven tandem uh we know that Charlie Lingren was good you know in sample sizes you know and uh uh the season before he ended up he was instrumental in the Capitals making it to the first round of the playoffs subsequently fanned out against the Rangers but when you take a look at him it’s important to look at track records and Charlie Lingren was unproven and Hunter Shepard well he was really good at the American League level you know knocked it out at the college level but not proven at the NHL level so BMAC had the ability to take a look at this team at a 30,000 foot view and go that’s a bit of a question mark i’m not so sure that tandem is going to make us compete against some of the best teams out in the NHL so what did he do well he took a flyer on Logan Thompson and uh he was Net Minder number one uh but that isn’t how we went into the season it was a battle of who was going to be number one think 1A and 1B charlie Lingren being 1B ostensibly but Logan Thompson you know kind of ran away with it but the secret sauce for the Capitals the past season uh was alternating it would be Logan Thompson and then it would be Charlie Lingren and then towards the latter part of the season Logan Thompson kind of ran away with it but then there was the injuries those kind of things where you needed a solid uh Charlie Lingren in the mix um so it’s a good thing that the Capitals did have options and Logan Thompson you know a little bit bitter I guess at the end of the day from with the Vegas Golden Knights um that he didn’t feel like he got enough credit um playing in in in Vegas that you know in a lot of ways the coaches said that it wasn’t really the net minding uh that did it with it was the Golden Knights stout defense so Logan Thompson came here with a chip on his shoulder willing to prove to the NHL that no I do have a lot of talent and I if I’m dialed in I can really be a gamecher for a team and he was absolutely that for the Capitals because you know Charlie Lingren’s good and uh I’m not saying the Capitals would not have made it um to the playoffs but I’m going to say that Logan Thompson made it that much easier in any event if you want to look at it as a 1A 1B Logan Thompson Charlie Lingren well that was the secret sauce or part of the secret sauce of the capital success so let’s dive into that uh in segment number two here talking about Logan Thompson and ultimately what uh he meant for this team uh because Logan Thompson almost crashed the Vzna party this year finishing fourth in voting uh not bad for a guy who was a question mark heading into his first season in DC and um you know you want to take a look at it there were some questionable things about Logan Thompson as well uh getting knocked out of the game saying he got his bell rung uh just different things like that where anyway I don’t want to dive into what people are saying but some people are kind of questioning about the validity of some of his injuries uh but Thompson had let me grab this uh real quick here uh had a 316 and6 record a 2.49 goals against average and a 910 save percentage uh so you know you take a look at him the big question mark or that’s what people were saying for the Capitals solid numbers uh you know but what really turned heads was his goals saved above expected per Money Puck Thompson had a 26.0 0 gold say goals saved above expected um third best in the league only behind Connor Hellabuk and Andre Vasalefki that is elite territory um so quite something what he was able to do in his first uh se season with the Capitals and uh you know it’s interesting talking about and I’ll talk about here in a minute is you know there was some question about the Capitals in the net mining department which goender was going to get the extension um as we know that Charlie Lingren and uh Logan Thompson were due for new deals now the Caps can clearly liked what they saw here they gave him a six-year $35.1 million extension back in January and uh at 28 years old he might just be the long-term answer in goal you know and that’s you know some people and you know you know me to a certain extent as well six years well that is a big bite out of the Logan Thompson apple and you know sometimes uh you definitely see a depreciation uh in net minding and you know how is Logan Thompson going to be in year four year five of that deal uh the way you look at it that is just the way the NHL is structured right now you know you got to think that Logan Thompson and his representation uh were going for term and money and they got both of those things that if you lowballed them well Logan Thompson could have tried uh to to go to a different team because there are teams out there that could definitely use a Logan Thompson so despite what you think about term and the amount of money uh that is what what what they had to do now remember this guy had never posted more than a 4.6 six uh gold save above in any other other years in Vegas so a huge jump in performance um so the question is is what did what what changed for Logan Thompson why was he able to to do what he was able to do um well I guess I guess the biggest thing is it’s a different team different systems and different you know players around him and don’t let Logan Thompson hear this but the Blueliners that played around him uh well they helped him out a lot you know you and I think that oftentimes teams play more confidently if they have a really great net minder in net and they know that there’s a pretty good chance that if Logan Thompson is between the pipes that he’s going to stop things that the Blueliners cannot stop and I think that if your team is playing confidently with a great net minder that leads to more scoring opportunities where you’re not worried about is this guy between the pipes going to save it or am I going to have to just spend all my time trying to help him out uh so that was big there so but let’s transition to the man himself Hleabuk uh the award itself went to Hellellabuck who honestly had an historic year of 47 wins and a 2.0 goals against average a 925 save percentage eight shutouts uh he also won the heart just a ridiculous run uh and it’s interesting Connor Halabuk who was lights out uh during the regular season well there were some question marks in the playoffs so you know that what I’ve said before is true and I’m not the first one to say it that often times teams have a different gear uh when you make it to the playoffs and that was especially true for Connor Halabuk as you know again lights out infallible bulletproof were a line share of the season uh but then he struggled a little bit in the playoffs so that’s interesting but Habuk is now in that VZNA elite club threetime winner under the modern format that’s Hassik Broader Wah and now Hellabuk uh so you know this uh is a Capitals podcast but I think it’s important to uh tip the hat there to the guys that have done a good job logan Thompson you know one of the finalists in the mix uh but ultimately it was Hella Buck much deserved I think um and you know I I just think that Logan Thompson is you know going to continue to get better and better uh I guess it remains to be seen but all things considered uh very deserving of Connor Halabuk to win that award but I don’t think Logan Thompson uh should feel too bad about anything all right so coming up here after the break we will talk about the Alexia situation now listen I try to keep this pretty much a hockey podcast i don’t like to to dig into you know the gossip if you will but being that it was kind of a serious situation and a current Capitals player on the roster that’s what I’ll dive into i’ll talk about the latest with Alexv straight ahead all right welcome back into this edition of Locked On Capitals part of the Locked On Podcast Network your team every day the best way that you can help grow the show is to subscribe to Locked On Capitals on YouTube and comment anything down below all right in the final segment segment three here we’re talking about the Alexv situation and uh before I dive into that let’s just talk about what the Capital should do in the long term for Alexv is uh he is the guy that it was always supposed to be his year and uh you know to be clear here he spent most of this past season in the cryogenic deep freeze and uh you know injury came you know Marty Farerraari got injured not optimal uh as Martin Farravari was you know a key contributor one of the biggest pieces on the Capitals blue line that uh when emergency came knocking and they had to break the glass and pull out an emergency piece it was Alex Alex a bit lackluster not horrible but I don’t think ultimately what the Capitals are looking for so there’s already some question marks surrounding Alex so the uh activity uh that took place shortly after the end of the season well that definitely does not put him in the good graces of the Capitals organization in my opinion so let’s shift gears here this one is a little heavier and uh kind of complicated if you remember Alexia the 25-year-old uh 25 years old already for the Capitals was arrested back on May 17th according to reports and court records it was for public intoxication uh if you don’t know apparently he was involved um in a fight outside Big Tony’s Pizzeria a cop saw him assaulting another man they used pepper spray to break it up and he was taken into custody and uh not the good optics and you know the one thing I know about the Capitals is they don’t like these kind of situations you know this negativity surrounding the organization and we’ve seen this before with different prospects and that kind of thing so the optics on this don’t look great uh that’s why off the top I was kind of just trying to give you the lay of the land about the player and then you add this public intoxication into the mix uh that does not look too good but as far as Alexiov and this is just my take on it is he didn’t get any jail time or anything like that uh this case was settled with a deferred disposition basically meaning he pays a $91 fine and if it goes away and if he stays clean uh but not exactly a great look for a player trying to earn a contract so you take a look at it talk about you know good legal representation a $91 fine for you know the police having to show up and use pepper spray on him now to be clear here I don’t know uh what happened there you know maybe the guy was talking smack to someone that he was friends with or his significant other i don’t know the situation and even if he was I I guess that’s probably not the proper way to handle a situation uh but when you add alcohol to the mix you know everything changes and ultimately like I said the optics of it are not good for Alex it’s play in of itself not horrible but not you know kind of what we had hoped for so definitely some murky troubled waters for Alex ahead now here’s the other part alex was a barely part of the regular season he played just eight games uh he was a healthy scratch for most of it but then he gets thrown into the playoff lineup when Marty Farerravari goes out like I said and he actually played all nine postseason games and uh that’s one of the things I spoke about that the Capitals did not do a lot on the trade deadline uh as we know that they signed uh traded for Bavilier and that was it because they didn’t want to mess up the team chemistry they didn’t want to do this in the locker room and the vibes and all this uh then it was really apparent it was real apparent to me anyway that when Marty Farerravari it would have been good if they had maybe you know maybe a bit more of a grizzled old vet a proven performer a guy that could be in the cupboard because we knew the Capitals were headed for the playoffs uh that um that it would have been good if they would have had someone good to go because you know the thing around the Capitals for the longest time is that there’s just a glut of talent there’s Chase Prrisky and Vinnieorio but but uh when it really hit the fan that’s who they called upon not Dylan Mrath who in by his own admission is not the greatest quickest skater and Ethan Bear who played good at the American League level the season before a lot of fanfare a lot of excitement did not live up to expectations so definitely something I think the Capitals need to do uh this off season i don’t think that you know you know the whole John Carlson thing that’s an EP conversation for another time you know what is the long-term future there but uh you know not talking John Carlson i think the Capitals definitely need to have a proven performer uh if things go ary you know again not optimal timing and I know it’s not Marty Farravari’s fault but when things went poorly that’s who they called upon was Alex and uh you know again didn’t really live up to what I had hoped for but current GM Chris Patrick said during breakdown day that they hope Alex gets more playing time you know but here’s the thing he’s a restricted free agent now with arbitration rights so the Caps have to decide whether they even want to qualify him uh hit me up on Twitter or on YouTube is he even worth qualifying asking me it’s he’s just never been the guy I think the Capitals are hoping for uh this is one of these subtle off season decisions that may may not make the headlines but could impact the Blue Line depth down the road again we have some players down in Hershey that are supposed to be the future faces but supposed to is uh the the word that you want to circle there we don’t know if they’re going to live up to expectation but as far as Alex is concerned you know having a poor season and maybe he was taking out some stress again I wasn’t there there’s not a lot of uh descriptions about exactly what led to the altercation but in any event that is not how you conduct yourself uh when you were under current contract with a professional hockey team that is kind of on the bubble i mean the Capitals could go either way right i think that you know he wasn’t in the good graces before just based on performance in his history uh that definitely did not help uh his case all right once again I want to thank you for joining me on this edition of Locked on Capitals your only daily year- round podcast covering the Capitals and I want to thank all of you that listen on the audio side and watch this on YouTube you are what makes this show successful when you’re done here head on over to Locked on NHL as they have you covered 5 days a week available wherever you find your podcasts 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 Network it is your team every day my name is Dan Homie and I’ll talk to you again next time
Alex Ovechkin wrapped up his 20th NHL season with another standout campaign, tallying 44 goals and 73 points in just 65 games, despite missing time with a broken leg. He finished eighth in Hart Trophy voting with one first-place vote, adding another accolade to a storied career in which he became the NHL’s all-time goals leader. Washington entered the playoffs as the Eastern Conference’s top seed, thanks in part to Ovechkin’s production.
Meanwhile, goaltender Logan Thompson had a breakout season in his Capitals debut, finishing fourth in Vezina Trophy voting with a 31-6-6 record and a .910 save percentage. He was rewarded mid-season with a six-year, $35.1 million extension. Off the ice, defenseman Alex Alexeyev was fined after a public intoxication arrest in May and remains a restricted free agent, leaving questions about his future with the team.
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1 comment
Logan Thompson was outstanding. The play in front of him was often not.