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Alex Ovechkin

East Notes: Ovechkin, Bruins Injuries, Kravtsov, Stuetzle

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While we know that Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin will eventually re-sign with Washington, that won’t happen for a while yet.  NBC Sports Washington’s J.J. Regan relays that GM Brian MacLellan has tabled extension talks until the start of training camp, whenever that may be.  The 35-year-old will be entering the final season of his 13-year, $124MM contract and while his prime years may have passed, he still should be a dynamic goal scorer in the NHL for several years to come.  Ovechkin plans to represent himself in discussions with MacLellan, similar to what teammate Nicklas Backstrom did in his contract talks last season, one that led to a five-year, $46MM deal.

More from the Eastern Conference:

  • Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters, including NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin, that both Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak are on track in their recoveries from mid-September surgeries. Marchand had sports hernia surgery that carried a four-month recovery timeline while Pastrnak was set to miss five months after hip and shoulder procedures.  Depending on when next season starts, Marchand may not miss too much time but Pastrnak is set to miss a decent chunk of the year.
  • While Rangers prospect Vitali Kravtsov is off to a good start in the KHL and can be recalled from his loan at any time, Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that the current plan is to keep the winger with Traktor Chelyabinsk for their entire season. The 20-year-old has eight goals in 18 games so far this season after managing just three points in 11 KHL contests a year ago.  If he continues to do well, he’d be an interesting midseason addition in New York or a big upgrade for AHL Hartford.
  • Senators top pick Tim Stuetzle is on schedule in his recovery from surgery to repair a broken bone in his hand, Mannheim GM Jan-Axel Alavaara told Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch. The 18-year-old was set to return to Mannheim of the DEL this season but that start was delayed by the pandemic before even considering his injury.  As things stand, the hope is that Stuetzle will be available for the World Juniors although if NHL training camps are ongoing at that time, he may be needed in Ottawa.

Alex Ovechkin Discusses His Playing Future

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Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin still has several playing years left in him but the veteran is already thinking about the end of his playing career, one that doesn’t end in a Washington uniform.  In an interview with RTVI’s Tina Kandelaki, Ovechkin stated that he sees himself winding up his career back home with Dynamo Moscow of the KHL, a team he suited up with before coming to the NHL while he also spent some time with them during the lockout before the 2012-13 season got underway.

Having said that, Washington fans shouldn’t be worrying that their franchise player will soon be leaving.  In a follow-up question, he stated that he only wants to play for two teams in his career, Dynamo back home and with the Capitals in the NHL.  The 35-year-old didn’t specify how long he sees himself staying in North America, theorizing it could be as long as five more years or as little as two.

Regardless of how long his next deal may be, Ovechkin basically publicly committing to another contract with Washington is the key takeaway here.  He’s entering the final year of his 13-year, $124MM deal and acting as his own agent in negotiations by choosing to negotiate directly with GM Brian MacLellan but it’s clear he doesn’t have any plans to hit the open market.

The future first-ballot Hall of Famer sits eighth all-time with 706 goals and while he’s still 190 short of Wayne Gretzky’s record, he still should be a top goal-scorer for a while yet should he choose to stick around in the NHL for a medium-term deal.  It’s quite possible that the length of his next contract will ultimately determine whether or not he gets that top spot.

Even with the pandemic levelling out the salary cap for the foreseeable future, there’s a good chance that Ovechkin’s AAV on his next contract will come in close to the $9.538MM mark on his current contract.  It will be subject to 35-plus restrictions (unless the deal is uniform in salary each year, a new wrinkle in the CBA) which makes it less likely that a cheaper year or two is added on to try to lower the cap hit.  At any rate, while Ovechkin’s heart may be set on finishing his playing career back home, his time with the Capitals isn’t ending anytime soon.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Negotiation Notes: Ovechkin, Malkin, NHLPA

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When the new league year begins, the Washington Capitals and franchise icon Alex Ovechkin are expected to enter contract talks as soon as possible. Ovechkin is entering the final year of his contract, but can sign an extension as early as October 9. Talks should run smoothly for the superstar and the only team he’s ever played for; TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that Ovechkin will once again negotiate the deal by himself. Ovechkin represented himself in contract talks last time around, all the way back in 2008, and landed a whopping 13-year, $124MM contract. Long-time friend and teammate Nicklas Backstrom was also successful negotiating an extension with the Capitals earlier this season. Ovechkin has no reservations about sitting down at the table by himself with GM Brian MacLellan and company to work out what could very well be the final contract of his storied career.

  • Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeni Malkin is still two years away from free agency, but sources tell The Athletic’s Rob Rossi and Josh Yohe that there is already mutual interest between player and team in an extension. Specifically, the two side are eyeing a three-year term, which would keep Malkin in Pittsburgh through the 2024-25 season, after which he would likely retire. Sidney Crosby’s current contract, a 12-year pact, is also set to expire that off-season. The dynamic duo will be 38 and 37 respectively at that time, so expect a changing of the guard in Pittsburgh to occur that off-season.
  • In more current and pressing negotiations, TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that the NHLPA is creating a player committee to work with the NHL on the logistics of the 2020-21 season. The two sides are expected to meet after the end of the Stanley Cup Final in the hopes that there can be concrete progress prior to the NHL Draft and the opening of free agency. With the “when” and “how” of the coming season still very much up in the air there is plenty of work for both sides before a suitable plan can be rolled out to the public.

NHL Announces First And Second All-Star Teams, All-Rookie Team

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Following the announcements of the final five NHL regular season awards, the league also revealed their three all-league rosters: the First-Team All-Stars, the Second-Team All-Stars, and the All-Rookie Team. Below are the 2019-20 honorees:

First All-Star Team (link)

G: Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
D: Roman Josi, Nashville Predators
D: John Carlson, Washington Capitals
LW: Artemi Panarin, New York Rangers
C: Leon Draisaitl, Edmonton Oilers
RW: David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins

The 2020 First-Team All-Stars are a historic group, the first time since the inaugural all-league honors in 1930-31 that all six honorees are first-time members of the team. Unsurprisingly, this team also covers most of the league’s major awards with Draisaitl taking home the Hart, Ted Lindsay, and Art Ross, Josi winning the Norris, Hellebuyck winning the Vezina, and Pastrnak earning the Rocket Richard.

Second All-Star Team (link)

G: Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins
D: Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues
D: Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
LW: Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins
C: Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche
RW: Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning

The President’s Trophy-winning Boston Bruins finish with a league-best three players on All-Star rosters. Their division rival, and current Stanley Cup finalist, the Tampa Bay Lightning are the only other team with more than one inclusion on the all-star rosters. Noticeably absent from either all-star teams are future Hall of Famers Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals. This is just the third time since 2005-06 that at least one of the pair have not been on a postseason All-Star team, while they have both have been selected in the same year eight times in the past 15 years.

All-Rookie Team (link)

G: Elvis Merzlikins, Columbus Blue Jackets
D: Cale Makar, Colorado Avalanche
D: Quinn Hughes, Vancouver Canucks
F: Victor Olofsson, Buffalo Sabres
F: Dominik Kubalik, Chicago Blackhawks
F: Nick Suzuki, Montreal Canadiens

The rookie elite, led by Calder Trophy-winner Makar, is an older group than usual. Merzlikins, Olofsson, and Kubalik, all 25 or older, played in Europe for a considerable amount of time before jumping to North America as a polished product, while Makar and Hughes each played a pair of seasons in the NCAA and Suzuki aged out of juniors before turning pro. Nevertheless, the first-year pros were all impressive and still have many  quality years ahead of them.

Capitals Notes: New Coach, Samsonov, Holtby, Ovechkin

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After the Washington Capitals announced they had fired head coach Todd Reirden earlier today, general manager Brian MacLellan answered a number of questions about the team, particularly about the head coaching change. With so much criticism being directed at Capitals ownership and management about their unwillingness to spend money on a veteran head coach (they have hired first-time coaches in five of their last six hires), MacLellan admitted the team will definitely look at a coach with some experience.

“I think we need an experienced coach,” said MacLellan (via NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti and ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. “We have an experienced group. I think we had a good culture here and it’s starting to slip … I think we’ve developed a habit of thinking that we can play good when we have to play good, rather than developing good habits.”

That could open up the team to go after one of the many experienced and successful coaches that became available during the 2020-21 season, including Gerard Gallant, Mike Babcock, Peter Laviolette and Bruce Boudreau.

MacLellan also said that he was disappointed two years ago that the Capitals and (former head coach) Barry Trotz couldn’t come to an agreement after they won the Stanley Cup in 2018. He added that the team was willing to pay Trotz market value, but failed to agree on term.

The GM added that the team is in no rush to hire a head coach and will take their time to find the best possible candidate, according to Gulitti. Nothing has been determined regarding Reirden’s assistant coaches either.

  • The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell reports that goaltender Ilya Samsonov, who didn’t go to Toronto with the team due to an off-ice injury, has been getting therapy for his injury for six weeks and the team is expected to evaluate him in two weeks to see how he’s doing. The Capitals expect him to be ready for the 2020-21 season. The 23-year-old looks to be the goaltender of the future after an impressive rookie season in which he sported a 2.55 GAA and a .913 save percentage in 26 games.
  • MacLellan, at the press conference, also admitted that the Capitals chances of bringing back starting goaltender Braden Holtby is “going to be difficult,” according to Wyshynski. However, he also admits that nothing has been decided about the 30-year-old, who will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason. Holtby didn’t fare well during the regular season with Washington, posting a 3.11 GAA and a .897 save percentage in 48 games. However, he did fare somewhat better during the playoffs with a 2.49 GAA and a .906 save percentage in eight appearances.
  • Gulitti also notes that MacLellan said that he isn’t that concerned about extension talks with star forward Alex Ovechkin. The GM said he will talk to Ovechkin when players arrive at training camp later this year. The soon-to-be 35-year-old is still playing at top form, scoring 48 goals during the shortened regular season as well as another four goals in the team’s eight playoff games. He has one year remaining on his 13-year, $124MM deal that he signed back in 2008.

No Extension Talks For Alex Ovechkin Until Playoffs End

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As part of the new CBA agreement, teams don’t have to wait until the start of the 2020-21 league year (slated for some time in November) to begin working on contract extensions for 2021 free agents.  While they’re eligible to do so, the Capitals have decided that they will not be doing so with winger Alex Ovechkin, Washington GM Brian MacLellan told reporters, including NHL.com’s Tracey Myers.

The 34-year-old will be entering the final season of his 13-year, $124MM contract next season.  At the time, the deal seemed rather largesse at the time as it came close to the maximum 20% of the cap which is as high as a deal can go.  However, with the Upper Limit of the cap increasing substantially since then (from $56.7MM in 2008 when the pact was signed to $81.5MM this season), the contract has even looked like a bargain at times.

There’s no denying that Ovechkin is an elite goal scorer and when all is said and done, the future first-ballot Hall of Famer might actually hold the NHL record.  He sits eighth all-time with 706 tallies and while he’s still 190 shy of Wayne Gretzky’s record, he still has several years left in him.  It’s not entirely crazy to think that the length of his next contract will ultimately determine whether or not he gets that top spot.

Ovechkin has led the league in goals for three straight years, scoring at least 48 in each of them.  While it’s fair to say that he will slow down eventually, it would seem as if he has at least a few years left as a top scorer in the game.  Undeniably, there will be plenty of interest in him if he was to make it to the open market in 2021.

Having said that, given his commitment to the Capitals organization and the mutual admiration, it seems likely that they’ll eventually be able to work out a new contract before he gets to free agency.  Accordingly, the decision to wait until after the postseason seems like a wise one.

The big question then becomes how long the deal will be as at this point, it’s reasonable to think that Ovechkin’s cap hit on his next contract will be around the current $9.5MM AAV.  It will be a 35-plus deal which makes it less likely that a cheap year or two is tacked on to try to artificially lower the cap hit.  There is a new provision in the CBA that takes away the 35-plus risk (Section 64 of the Memorandum of Understanding) but that only applies if “(1) total compensation (Player Salary and Bonuses) that is either the same as or increases from one League Year to the immediately subsequent League Year, and (2) a Signing Bonus, if any, that is payable in the first year of the SPC only.”  In other words, the risks only go away with a uniform salary with minimal signing bonuses which takes away some of the incentives to front-loading the contract.

That will be one of the factors that MacLellan and Ovechkin’s camp consider over the coming months.  It will be a little while longer before it gets done but right now, they’ll solely focus on Washington’s upcoming playoff run which will unofficially get underway on Monday with the first of three round robin games to determine postseason seeding.

Metropolitan Notes: Devils Coaching Search, Hurricanes, Ovechkin

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With several big-name coaches on their wish list, many people didn’t put much thought into a report that Lindy Ruff was a fifth candidate for the New Jersey Devils. After all, the Devils were also considering Peter Laviolette, Gerard Gallant, Mike Babcock, John Stevens, Bruce Boudreau and current interim head coach Alain Nasreddine. However, on his most recent 31 Thoughts column, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman writes that Ruff is hardly an afterthought and is a serious candidate for the team’s head coaching position.

What’s interesting about that statement is that New Jersey still doesn’t have a general manager in place and has been interviewing candidates for that position too. Friedman notes that many of those candidates have requested input in the team’s head coaching search, which would likely alter the team’s plans in hiring a head coach. However, the scribe notes that it looks like regardless on what the team decides, Ruff is highly favored within the organization.

Ruff served as head coach of the Buffalo Sabres from 1997 to 2013, while taking the same role in Dallas from 2013 to 2017 and has 736 coaching victories in the NHL.

  • With many teams having shutdown voluntary skating in their facilities recently due to a number of positive tests for COVID-19, the Carolina Hurricanes announced they will open up PNC Arena to players who wish to begin voluntary small-group training, starting on Tuesday, June 30. The team is expecting 16 players to be ready to go on that date, with that group to be split in half during on-ice workouts. So far, no word on what players will hit the ice in Carolina.
  • Speaking of teams that have been on the ice for some time, the Washington Capitals, who have been skating at MedStar Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, VA since June 8, got a familiar face on the ice as star forward Alex Ovechkin skated with some teammates Saturday. The 34-year-old, who tallied 48 goals in just 68 games last season, has been training in Florida before now. He was joined by Evgeny Kuznetsov, Lars Eller, Garnet Hathaway, John Carlson and Braden Holtby.

One Trade The Capitals Would Like To Have Back

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While we await the return of the NHL, let’s take this opportunity to look back at some of the influential transactions in NHL history. For no particular reason, let’s jump to the trade deadline of the lockout-shortened 2012-2013 season.

On the date in question (April 3, 2013), the Washington Capitals were two points out of a playoff spot, looking to boost their chances of returning to the postseason for the sixth consecutive season. The Caps had been banged up to start the year, but at the deadline, they were on the rise and rounding into form. To get that little bit of extra oomph, the Caps traded top prospect Filip Forsberg to Nashville for LW Martin Erat and prospect Michael Latta.

The deal made a certain amount of sense at the time, as the Caps were trying to get over the hump and capture their first Stanley Cup. Led by all-world 27-year-old winger Alex Ovechkin, the pieces to make a run were in place, even if they hadn’t lived up to those lofty expectations as of yet. Forsberg, the 11th overall selection of the draft in the year prior, had a bright future, but he wasn’t anticipated to add value to the Caps for some time. Erat led the Predators with 21 points and 17 assists at the time of the deal.

Caps General Manager at the time George McPhee said this of the deal (from Katie Carrera of the Washington Post): “You’re here to win. We’ve been in that mode for a while. This is six years of trying to win a Cup. We had our rebuild phase, we sort of rebuilt things on the fly here, but we’d like to continue to make the playoffs while we’re doing it.”

Sure enough, adding a top-six winger like Erat to a line with Matthieu Perreault and Joel Ward could very well have made the difference for Washington. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but Erat did not end up making the difference. He manages just two goals in 62 games with the Caps before requesting a trade the following season, which the Caps granted. They did manage to get back to the playoffs in 2012-2013, but they were bounced by the Rangers in the first round.

Latta lasted with the Caps for longer, though he never made much of an impact on the ice. He scored four total goals for Washington in parts of three seasons from 2013 to 2016.

As for the Predators, they are happy with their end of this deal. So much so that five years later, they took a victory lap with a gloat tweet.

Forsberg has made good on his prospect status in developing into a capable top-liner for Nashville. Still just 25-years-old, he’s averaged 0.36 goals per game and 0.41 assists per game over his NHL career. He’s a big piece of the Predators success over the years, and a player the Caps would certainly love to have back.

NHL Officially Announces Several Awards

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With the league announcing their return to play format, the regular season is now over. Though we don’t know exactly when the Stanley Cup will be handed out, we do know who has won several regular season awards. The league officially announced the winners of the Art Ross, Maurice “Rocket” Richard, William M. Jennings and Presidents’ Trophy today.

Leon Draisaitl is your 2019-2020 Art Ross winner, after recording 110 points in just 71 games. He was 13 points ahead of teammate Connor McDavid for the league lead and the only player to crack the 100-point threshold in the shortened season. Draisaitl now has 93 goals and 215 points over his last two seasons, truly proving himself to be a superstar talent even when anchoring his own line. The 24-year old is under contract through the 2024-25 season at an $8.5MM cap hit, a deal that now looks like a huge bargain.

Like most years since he entered the league, Alex Ovechkin will take home the goal-scoring title once again. The Washington Capitals superstar has now won the Rocket on nine different occasions, the most of any player in history. This year is a little different however, as he won’t win it alone. David Pastrnak of the Boston Bruins tied Ovechkin for the lead league, meaning they will both be given the award. Pastrnak becomes the first Bruin to lead the league in goals since Phil Esposito nearly a half-century ago.

It wasn’t just offense in Boston however, as Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak take home the Jennings as the goaltending duo with the lowest goals-against-average. The team allowed just 174 goals in 70 games, with Rask and Halak combining for an eye-popping .921 overall save percentage.

That balanced performance is exactly why the Bruins take home the Presidents’ Trophy as the regular season’s best team. With a 44-14-12 record they had dominated the Eastern Conference right from the start of the year, following their Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2019. Though anything can happen in the restarted playoff picture, the Bruins should still be considered one of the favorites.

Snapshots: NHL Draft, Ovechkin, Crosby, Guentzel

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Yesterday, the NHL postponed the 2020 NHL Draft, which had been set to take place in Montreal on June 26-27. The league did not however indicate what the plan was to make up the event, which must occur in some form or fashion prior to the 2020-21 season. However, Pierre LeBrun writes for The Athletic that there are three possible solutions for the draft make-up. The least likely would be that the draft is simply postponed to a later date and takes place in Montreal as initially planned. LeBrun does not believe that a full draft, complete with teams, prospects, and fans alike in attendance, is a realistic option. Slightly more likely would be a scaled-down version, which LeBrun compares to the post-lockout draft in 2005, that still takes place in Montreal but with far less fanfare, but even this seems unlikely. The outcome most see occurring, falling in line with what junior leagues have decided for their own drafts, would be a virtual NHL Draft, wherein teams make their picks live from their individual war rooms. LeBrun mentions the possibility of a centralized location, in Montreal or elsewhere, with team reps and top prospects in attendance to react to the virtual selections.

If the draft does move to a virtual format, LeBrun reports that the league has promised Montreal that they will receive either the 2021 or 2022 NHL Draft. He adds that the NHL may even consider combining the NHL Entry Draft and NHL Expansion Draft into one week-long event in Montreal next summer. Given the rabid fan base of the city, it would be as good a location as any – barring Seattle itself maybe – to hold the Expansion Draft. If Montreal were to lose the draft this year only to gain two drafts next year, that would be quite the consolation prize.

  • Count arguably the two biggest names in hockey as supporters of calling the regular season and jumping right into the playoffs. On a conference call today among representatives of each of the Metropolitan Division teams, Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin lobbied for the NHL to skip the remaining regular season games and resume play with the first round of the postseason, in whatever format they choose. Crosby opined that playing as many regular season games as possible would be best for the integrity of the season, but he “wouldn’t mind starting right at the playoffs.” Ovechkin was more direct, saying that he is “bored” with the league’s current pause and that his Capitals “don’t want to play those extra games” and would “rather start the playoffs right away.” Unsurprisingly, Carolina’s Jordan Staal, whose Hurricanes are safely in the postseason right now, agrees with Ovechkin and Crosby, while brother Marc Staal of the New York Rangers, who were hot before the league postponed its action, would rather resume the regular season in hopes of getting in. Curiously though, Columbus’ Nick Foligno, whose Blue Jackets would be in the standard playoff structure by total points but not by points percentage, the likely determinant of qualification, supported a jump right to the postseason, while the New York Islanders’ Anders Lee, whose team is in the opposite situation, preferred to finish the regular season. Opinions are sure to change based on the length of the league’s pause, the options for returning to action, and the potential format of postseason play, but for now there is major support behind surrendering the regular season in favor of an immediate postseason of some sort.
  • There are few NHL stakeholders who are benefiting from the current indefinite break in action. One of the only exceptions is Crosby’s teammate, Jake Guentzel. Guentzel suffered a shoulder injury in late December and was given a four-to-six-month recovery window following surgery. In a normal league year, that likely meant that Guentzel would be lucky to play again this season, only able to return for the playoffs, and almost certainly wouldn’t be able to get back to full strength. However, given the delay of the current pause, the status quo has shifted. Chris Adamski of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review relays word from GM Jim Rutherford that Guentzel’s rehab is going well and the team is optimistic that he will play again if the season resumes. Especially considering the strong likelihood that the NHL will need a mini training camp for teams to get back to game speed, Guentzel may even be back at full strength before a potential resumption of the regular season or start of the postseason in June or July. Guentzel recorded 43 points in 39 games playing with an injury-depleted forward corps prior to his own injury and would be a major asset for the Penguins, who would be the No. 3 seed in the Metropolitan Division if the playoffs began based on the current standings.

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