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Wake-up call or just a speed bump for Ovechkin?

December 1, 2009 06:27 PM | Posted by   Scott Morrison  

Alex Ovechkin may be the luckiest guy around.

All he has to show for his knee-on-knee collision the other night with Carolina Hurricanes defenceman Tim Gleason is a sore, but apparently not destroyed, knee and a two-game suspension.

It could have been worse. It could have been a helluva lot worse.

But with time the knee will be better and the suspension will pass. But what will the future hold for the great Ovechkin?

Is the latest incident a wake-up call or just a speed bump?

A history of physical play

In many ways, the Washington Capitals and Ovechkin should pause to give thought to how the superstar has been playing the game. He is a supreme talent, obviously, but he plays a hard-nosed physical game as well which, as we witnessed the other night, can become somewhat reckless. He went knee-on-knee with Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Sergei Gonchar last spring. He collapsed Buffalo Sabres winger Patrick Kaleta into the boards and received a boarding major last week. Prior to that there was the slew-foot on Atlanta winger Rich Peverley. Then the kneeing major on Gleason.

Point is Ovechkin obviously could have been seriously injured the other night.

But part of what makes him great is not just his immense skill and determination, but the physical element to his game. It's how Cam Neely played and Wendel Clark and Eric Lindros and all had battered bodies and shortened careers to show for it. None had any regrets, but they also didn't have longevity. But that was the only way they could play - all out. Anything less and they couldn't live with themselves.

Being a power forward, even one that scores 60 goals and is the league’s MVP, comes with a risk and a price and both are steep.

Coach concerned

"He's pretty reckless," Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said Tuesday. "It's hard telling a guy that scores 60 goals a year to change the way he plays.

“At the same time, I don't want to see him getting hurt. Maybe he has to pick his spots a little better. The open-ice hits, you just look around the league. It's not only the hitter; it's the guy that gets hit. ... It's something that will have to be addressed by us, I guess. ... Not only as a coach, but as somebody who admires him, I just don't want him to put himself in harm's way, so we'll see.

"Alex plays hard. All the time. I don't think there's a malicious bone of him trying to hurt anybody. He just plays hard and he plays to win every shift. And it's a really fine line between taking that away from him and I don't see how you can take it away other than talking to him and saying, 'We don't want to put you in that situation any more.' But when he gets out there, he just wants to win so badly he does whatever we can for that team to succeed."

Fine line between playing physical and playing reckless

Now, there have been times, such as the slew foot and the Kaleta hit, where Ovechkin has tripped over the good behaviour line. That will happen when you like to crash and compete. There are others, like the Gleason and Gonchar hit, where he has put himself at serious risk and that is what has to be concerning to the Capitals. It is one thing to be aggressive; it is another to be reckless and risky.

And that is what Ovechkin has to come to terms with moving forward - figuring out how to deal with that fine line of being physical and being reckless.

Can he find a way to continue to be Alex Ovechkin, playing with an edge but not putting himself at risk? So far in his career he has managed to avoid significant injury, but the odds are the longer he goes, playing the way he has been, the greater the chance for disaster.

There is a reason why he is Alexander is Great, but can he somehow curb some of that enthusiasm and remain great? For him and the Capitals, he will undoubtedly have to find a way.

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