As Alexander Ovechkin closes in on the all-time goal scoring record a common refrain is that while he is undoubtedly the greatest goal scorer of all time, that’s pretty much all he is bringing to the table. Of course, that’s been a fairly common criticism ever since he donned a Washington Capitals uniform. And on the ice, outside of a couple weeks here and there, it’s probably true. Ovechkin has never concerned himself too much with defensive responsibility or puck control, he’s on the ice to get the puck and shoot it. But I would like to push back on this criticism off the ice, because I think the way he’s lead the Capitals as their captain the past 15 years has not gotten the praise it deserves. Ovechkin, with help from Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson, TJ Oshie and Tom Wilson, has led a locker room that uses joy and camaraderie to power results on the ice in a way I don’t think any other team does.
The Capitals leadership style probably does not get the recognition it deserves because it goes so strongly against the traditional hockey leadership you see from players like Sidney Crosby or Nathan McKinnon. Stoic, demanding, perfectionists who crack down on their teammates if they try to stray out of line or dare to eat a food that is not within their recommended macros. The guy who’s eating a large chicken parm before the game and drinking a Coke on the bench probably doesn’t care too much about playing the “right way”.
The other reason is likely because the Capitals have not had a lot of playoff success, with only one Stanley Cup despite making the playoffs in X of Y seasons with Ovechkin as captain. But I think the focus on the Cup does a disservice to the excellence that the second clause represents. Playing with joy and camaraderie is particularly suited to working through a long, grueling regular season. And the regular season results speak for themselves. Since Ovechkin was named captain in January 2010 the Caps have won three Presidents’ Trophies and right now are threatening to capture their fourth, which would break their tie with the Boston Bruins for the most over that time. The Caps have also won eight division titles and their overall regular season points percentage is the second best in the NHL at .632 behind only those same Bruins.
While I don’t think I’ll ever be able to convince hockey fans to properly weigh the value of regular season success versus winning a Cup, I still think it’s noteworthy that Crosby, the posterchild for hockey leadership, has four division titles, zero Presidents’ trophies and is about to miss the playoffs for the third year in a row, something Ovechkin has never done.
At an individual level the Capitals locker room has also been great at incorporating new players from trades. That skill has been highlighted this year by the instant successes of Jakob Chychrun and Pierre-Luc Dubois, two players who had been bouncing around and earning reputations as being difficult to work with the past couple years. In December, Ted Leonsis praised the leadership of Ovechkin, Wilson and Carlson in incorporating new players into the fold saying:
“What I do when we bring in a new player is I sit with them and say, ‘You played for other teams, tell me what we do well, tell me where we need improvement, tell me your initial thoughts and reactions,” Leonsis said. “Dubois is a good example. He bounced around a bit, he’s having a great season, and I said to him, ‘What do you like so far?’ He said, ‘Well, two minutes after we announced the trade Alex Ovechkin called me and said welcome to the team, you’re going to love it here, you’re going to love Washington D.C.’
“He said, ‘Tom Wilson then called me and said we’re probably going to play together so I’ll come pick you up at the airport and my wife will talk to your girlfriend, and we’ll talk about the community.’ He said John Carlson called him, and he said, ‘When your bedrock guys on the team make you feel immediately a part of something, that’s how you can identify culture.’”
I admit, it’s hard for me to say for sure that this leadership style is unique in the NHL, I do not follow the other 31 teams at all, let alone at the level of detail I follow the Capitals. However, I would argue that when experienced reporters like Elliotte Friedman bring up the Caps hallway pregame handshakes as something a new player might not have experience with, a tradition that is going on at least a decade, it seems to me like this isn’t your ordinary NHL team having a fun season. And really, how many other teams have celebrated the championship of a different professional team in their city by having an all-night party in the locker room after a regular season game like the Capitals and Nationals did in 2019? While it might be difficult to statistically measure the exact value of fostering a positive, joyful culture in a pretty straightlaced sport, at the very least I think it’s time we start giving Ovechkin his due for what he's built in Washington and stop calling him just a goal scorer.
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