Washington Capitals captain Alexander Ovechkin could face a bitterness this year that he has not often experienced since his National Hockey League debut in 2005: being eliminated from the playoffs.
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The 37-year-old veteran has missed meetings three times postseason, including the first two seasons of his career. He was last absent in the spring of 2014, when the team then led by Adam Oates finished ninth in the Eastern Conference despite 90 points.
This time around, the Caps appear to be looking to the future as they traded defender Dmitry Orlov and sent Garnet Hathaway to the Boston Bruins on Thursday. That same night, they suffered a sixth straight loss, losing 4-2 to the miserable Anaheim Ducks. Washington sits 12th in the East overall ahead of Saturday afternoon’s visit to the New York Rangers.
Still, the club’s players have a job to do and apologies will not be enough to calm the storm. Even with “Ovi” withdrawing from the team to mourn his recently deceased father, the Capitals had an opportunity to pick up important points, but remained close.
“We still have a chance to make the playoffs… you never know what can happen. We just keep playing. It’s sad that all of this has happened, but there’s nothing we can do. We players have to move on and it’s not our job to make a decision,” Ovechkin said of Thursday’s trade, as reported by washingtonhockeynow.com.
Full-back Trevor van Riemsdyk didn’t want to use any distractions. “We think we’re a playoff team. These are two important points that we just left out. We will miss these guys. They’re good people except it’s part of the business and it’s sad. It is and now we have nothing to justify our inability to win this game,” he lamented.
Back in 2014
So the last time the Capitals and Ovechkin watched the playoffs on TV was the year the Los Angeles Kings were crowned in the finals against the Rangers. At that time, Washington was three points behind the Detroit Red Wings, who are also in the catch-up training in the current table.
The No8 had nonetheless finished with 51 goals and a second consecutive Maurice Richard trophy, and recorded the same tally as Nicklas Backstrom on 79 points. But behind them was the third-best scorer in the lineup – Joel Ward – some thirty points adrift. At the end of the year, the club acquired goaltender Jaroslav Halak from the Buffalo Sabers, while Martin Erat went to the Phoenix Coyotes.
The club’s troubles cost Oates and chief executive George McPhee, both of whom were sacked after the campaign.