Fansided

Capital Gains: Time running out for Washington Capitals?

By Dave Stevenson

Mandatory Credit: Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images Mandatory Credit: Patrick Smith/Getty Images
Mandatory Credit: Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images Mandatory Credit: Patrick Smith/Getty Images /
facebooktwitterreddit

For the better part of a decade, the Washington Capitals have taken the NHL by storm. Led by captain Alex Ovechkin, the Caps have become one of the league’s most exciting and popular teams. Since the start of the 2007-08 season, the Caps have only missed the playoffs once. During that span, they have won six division titles and two President Trophies. They’ve had their two highest point percentages in franchise history.

Despite those impressive regular season numbers, the Caps have yet to win a Stanley Cup and haven’t been in an Eastern Conference Finals series since 1998. That’s also the last time they made the Stanley Cup Finals. How’d that end? Don’t mention the name “Esa Tikkanen” to Caps fans unless you’re a cruel human being. Since the NHL lockout, they have twice blown a 3-2 series lead to the New York Rangers in the playoffs. Whether it’s fair or not, the Caps and their players will have the label of chokers stuck to them until they prove otherwise.

For Ovechkin and the Capitals, their Stanley Cup window is closing. After the 2013-14 season, the Caps started making moves to improve, operating under the premise of having a three-year window to win a Stanley Cup. The summer of 2014 saw the Caps add defensemen Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik to long-term contracts. In 2015, the Caps added three-time Stanley Cup champion Justin Williams and forward T.J. Oshie.

After the 2016-17 season, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Andre Burakovsky, Oshie, Williams, Karl Alzner, Daniel Winnik, and Dmitry Orlov will be free agents. They likely won’t be able to keep all of them. This is the last chance for this Washington Capitals roster to bring home the franchise’s first ever Stanley Cup.

In a culture that focuses heavily on championships, never winning anything significantly damages your legacy. This is especially true in the NHL. Ovechkin could go down as the best goal scorer ever. At the very least, he’s going down as this generation’s greatest goal scorer.

None of that matters if he doesn’t win a Stanley Cup. He won’t be compared to Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier, Sidney Crosby, or any of the all-time greats who have won a ring. Instead, Ovechkin will be lumped in the same conversation as Ted Williams, Dan Marino, and Charles Barkley. Extremely great players who never won a championship.

Ovechkin unfairly faces comparisons to Crosby, who might be the best player since Mario Lemieux. The two were destined to do battle throughout their careers. Most of the time, Crosby’s Penguins have come out on top.

Twice, Ovechkin has squared off against the Penguins in the playoffs. Each time, the Capitals lost and the Penguins went on to win the Stanley Cup. It’s impossible to place the blame squarely on Ovechkin’s shoulders. He has 82 points in 84 career playoff games, an average of 0.96 points per game. That’s 36th all-time and higher than Jonathan Toews, Anze Kopitar, Steve Yzerman, and Mike Modano. No player has more adjusted goals in their 20’s than Ovechkin.

Of course, that isn’t to say that Ovechkin has done it alone. Nicklas Backstrom and Ovechkin form arguably the league’s most potent center-wing combo. Since entering the league in 2007-08, only Daniel Sedin and Joe Thornton have more assists than Backstrom’s 476. A majority of those assists have been a part of Ovechkin’s 425 goals during that span. Ovechkin has played with such players as Evgeny Kuznetsov, John Carlson, Mike Green, Braden Holtby, and even his hero Sergei Federov during his career.

At this point, regular season success is meaningless for the Caps. They’ve experienced it so many times, it has become the norm … Six division titles with Ovechkin mean nothing

Ovechkin has won various awards during his career. He won the Calder Trophy in 2005-06. His trophy cases features three Hart Trophies as the league’s MVP and three Ted Lindsay Awards as the player’s choice for MVP. The Capitals’ captain has won six Maurice Richard Trophies as the league’s leading goal scorer. No one else has won it more than twice. He has led the league in goals more times than Maurice “Rocket” Richard himself. The only people to win it more times than him? Phil Esposito and Bobby Hull.

Never a Stanley Cup. Not even as much as a sniff.

Should Ovechkin’s incredible accomplishments be lessened because his team wasted some of the best years of his career? Absolutely not. But at the end of the day, it’s up to Ovechkin to make sure he isn’t remembered as the Dan Marino of hockey.

At this point, regular season success is meaningless for the Caps. They’ve experienced it so many times, it has become the norm. In 2009-10, they won the President’s Trophy only to lose to the Montreal Canadiens in the first round after blowing a 3-1 series lead. The Caps won it yet again in 2015-16, only to lose to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins in six games. Their six division titles with Ovechkin mean nothing because they still haven’t brought a Stanley Cup to Washington D.C.

The list of heartbreaks for the Caps is seemingly endless. Joffrey Lupul’s overtime goal in Game Seven in 2007-08. Game Seven of the 2008-09 Eastern Conference Semifinals. The 2009-10 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Getting swept by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2010-11 Eastern Conference Semifinals. Brad Richards’ game tying power play goal with eight seconds left in Game 5 of the 2011-12 Eastern Conference Finals. Derick Brassard’s goal in Game Six of the 2012-13 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. It’s up to the Capitals to make all of this pain worth it. And they’ve got to do it soon before they fail to take advantage of Ovechkin’s elite talent.

There is hope for them. Just look at the 2015-16 San Jose Sharks. San Jose has suffered heartbreak on par with what the Caps have felt in consistently falling short in the playoffs. they broke through last year though, making it to the Stanley Cup before remembering heartbreak is their thing.

The Caps can also take a look at the Chicago Blackhawks. They had the same reputation as them before winning the Stanley Cup during the 2009-10 season. Much like the Caps, they were saved by a franchise center (Jonathan Toews) and an explosive wing (Patrick Kane). It’s not easy to rewrite your legacy, but it’s definitely possible. The Los Angeles Kings, seen as a joke after not winning a Stanley Cup with Wayne Gretzky, suddenly became postseason darlings thanks to two Stanley Cups.

On paper, the Caps have everything it takes to win. Washington is strong down the middle with Backstrom, Kuznetsov, Lars Eller, and Jay Beagle. Ovechkin will have more motivation than ever to win a Stanley Cup. They have a strong defense led by Matt Niskanen, Carlson, Orlov, and Holtby. The Caps have the 2015-16 Jack Adams Trophy winner Barry Trotz behind the bench.

But, as Capitals fans can tell you, hockey is a cruel sport that often relies on randomness. Maybe the universe will cut them a break for the first time in what seems like an eternity.