CBC-Sports

The new Mr. Hockey

October 30, 2009 12:25 PM | Posted by   Mike Milbury  

Thursday night I was working for NESN, the Boston-based station that carries the Bruins so my attention was focused on the B’s-Devils, but it was the out of town highlights that really stole the show.

Don't get me wrong. Boston and New Jersey played a heckuva hockey game last night. It's just that when the Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin is playing, I don't want to miss a thing.

Sure enough, there he was: one-timing a slapper, roofing a breakaway shot that sickly elevated and dishing a helper for another. I watched it twice and then three times. Couldn't get enough of him.

Listen, any middle of the road hockey fan knows the league is abuzz with great young talent. I don't know if it's specialization, training techniques, number of kids playing or just evolution, but this generation of NHL players is far and away the best we have ever seen.

Plethora of young stars

Please don't wax poetic about Hull and Howe and Shore. Today's players are bigger, stronger, faster, better conditioned, better coached and with better equipment. The players of the 50s couldn't keep up. And there’s so many of them that you don't need to consult the standings to name a bunch of them. Kopitar in LA. Bobby Ryan in Anaheim. Duchene and O'Reilly in Colorado. Toews and Kane in Chicago. Stamkos in Tampa. Kovalchuk in Atlanta. Gaborik in New York. Parise in New Jersey. Crosby and Malkin and Fleury in Pittsburgh. And on and on.

But it is in Washington where the new generation’s poster boy resides. Hey, Alex Semin, Nick Backstrom and Mike Green are all stars in their own right, but the lightning rod is Alex Ovechkin.

The attraction? He is the next Mr. Hockey, the newly-defined Mr. Hockey. The computerized, twittered, facebooked, instantly gratified and accessible Mr. Hockey.

Why? It might be because he embodies effort on every shift. It could be his courage to be vulnerable to make a play or to confront the behemoths of the NHL. Maybe it's his ability to create a dangerous play when there seems nothing available. Or it could be his ability to release the puck with frightening speed and velocity. Really, is there a flaw? He celebrates too much? Yikes, what a cad.

The gift of Orr

I had the privilege of watching Bobby Orr first-hand. He had the same qualities as Ovechkin. The courage, speed, creativity, skill and ability to defy convention that makes us enraptured. Gifts given to a few, not just in the NHL, but in the history of pro sports.

And Ovechkin takes it a step further. He shares his joy. It's been a long time since I scored and NHL goal ... go ahead and snicker, but how many did you get? But when Ovechkin plays and scores, I relive that elation and share in his. Even the casual fan cannot help but be sucked into the World According to Ovechkin when Alex is on display.

It matters not to me that some would say Ovechkin needs to pass the test of time and earn rings to claim his place in the pantheon of hockey gods. Bull. He is there already and I can't get enough of him.

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