HockeyHow to fix the Washington Capitals

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Took me a few days to finish this, but wanted to do some extra research. Here goes:

Fans in Washington were so angry Wednesday night, you'd have thought the Redskins were playing.

And that's a good thing.

It shows the hockey team has arrived on the city's sporting scene. A disappointing playoff defeat is no longer met with a shrug of the shoulders and someone asking, "What does this mean for Albert Haynesworth?"

The most heated hockey rivalry outside of Canada involves Washington and Pittsburgh. The organizations don't like one another. The players can't stand each other. Their fans hurl anonymous insults over the internet that would make a Soprano blush.

Why are they so angry? Their team lost, and the Penguins could win, again. That's too much to take.

The best news for Capitals fans, however, is that George McPhee threw the brakes on any immediate panic moves. After an emotional blog post by owner Ted Leonsis that kind of threw Bruce Boudreau under the bus, McPhee showed strong leadership by insisting his coach was going nowhere. (Apparently, the owner will wisely allow his GM to handle this. Leonsis is also about to have a bigger headache in purchasing the NBA's Wizards, coming off a disastrous season.)

Good organizations never, ever make major decisions in the immediate aftermath of an emotional defeat. It is an enormous mistake. Take your time, really think it out.

Then, answer the following questions:

Do we play the right style?

There is a little bit of hockey snobbery when it comes to picking apart the Capitals, with critics crowing that they were right in saying, "You can't win this way." That's not completely true. The NHL doesn't keep zone possession stats anymore, but Washington dominated. When you include blocked and missed shots, the Capitals took 576 for the series, to Montreal's 381. (Per game average: 82-54.) Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak was unbelievable.

However, what this series showed was, despite the Caps' firepower, you can game-plan for their attack. For example, Washington loves stretch passes. The Canadiens sat back, making it very difficult for them to get through. And, even if they did, players receiving these passes were surrounded.

But the biggest problem actually involves personnel, not style. And it involves the franchise player. This is the biggest  issue McPhee and Boudreau must address.

Is Alexander Ovechkin willing to develop?

On their lone day off between the stunning upset of Washington and the next series with Pittsburgh, the Canadiens' Josh Gorges and Hal Gill talked about defending Ovechkin.

"Generally, you know what's coming," Gorges said. "When he comes in on the off-wing, he'll try to step to the middle and shoot through you. You can bait him into that."

"If you do go to the middle, he will try to go to the outside," Gill added.

Several of the Penguins described him as an "east/west" player as opposed to a "north/south" one. Fact is, for all of his terrific talent, Ovechkin has become easier to defend. He can still blow by you, but a well-prepared team knows exactly what's coming. Clearly, the Canadiens did.

Boudreau has repeatedly told reporters who ask if Ovechkin shoots too much that "a shot off his stick is better than anything else we can do." That's not the case anymore. Opponents know they can lay off Ovechkin's linemates because he isn't so interested in using them.

"Look at what happened in the final minutes of Game 7," another player said. "He tried to go by everybody by himself."

"Look at their power play," said an opposing coach. "I'm looking at Ovechkin with the puck and I'm afraid of all the talent around him. There's [Nicklas] Backstrom. There's [Alexander] Semin. There's [Mike] Green. They've got three other guys who can kill you. And he's taking them out of the game."

I know what you're thinking: This is piling on. No, it isn't. It's constructive criticism. It's what Ovechkin must do to reach the next level.

It's been a brutal year for The Great 8. He's watched his nemesis win a Stanley Cup and a gold medal.  Meanwhile, the Russian team flopped at the Olympics, and Ovechkin's NHL season is over before we've hit May.

What's even more concerning is that he just doesn't seem right. According to several sources, Ovechkin is stunned by the way public perception of him has changed during the past 12 months. For the first three years of his career, he loved the adulation and attention, the appreciation of his energy and play. In his mind, he hasn't changed, but criticism is everywhere. It's confused him. I was surprised to hear this, but apparently he's pretty sensitive and reads every word of negativity about him.

One source said it started with the infamous 50th-goal celebration from last season and increased with this year's suspensions.

Ovechkin - and Capitals fans - despise Crosby comparisons, but it's apt in this case. Crosby took a boatload of criticism at the start of his career. He responded by doing whatever it took to become a winner and a more-rounded player. That's Ovechkin's next step. He is still a great, great player who can win multiple Stanley Cups. But, he must make himself more dangerous, more difficult to stop. That's his summer project.

And, I think he'll do it.

What about Green?

Green is another guy who I think is overly affected by what others think of him. The high-scoring defenceman was hurt by not being selected to the Canadian Olympic team, and good for that. If he wasn't upset, then it didn't matter enough to him.

But, in the playoffs, he looked like a guy caught between what he wanted to be and what he thought others feel he should be. You can't play like that. It's the old Pinball Clemons line: "Paralysis by analysis."

Green made it to the NHL by taking risks and being himself. He has to get back to that or he's not useful. You can't please everyone. Worry about the guys who sign your paycheques first.

How do we add what we're missing?

The Capitals don't really scare you physically, and that's a problem. For that reason, adding Mike Knuble was so important last summer, and free-agent defenceman Anton Volchenkov would be a perfect fit. But he is not going to come cheap. If you count Michal Neuvirth and Karl Alzner (and we probably should), the Capitals already have 15 players signed for next year at $39 million US.

That doesn't count Backstrom, Eric Fehr and Tomas Fleischmann, all of whom are restricted free agents. I'm curious to see how Fleischmann's struggles affect his status, but the first two players are crucial (at least one GM thinks Fehr is primed for an offer sheet).

The most important thing that the Capitals, and their fans, must realize is that their window to win is far from closed. Some teams suffer losses like this and you say, "That's it. This had to be their year." Not Washington. The window here is open as long as Ovechkin remains among the league's best three players. Considering he's just 24, we're looking at six or seven more years.

But, for all of their talent, the Capitals lack what so many other teams do: a No. 2 centre, a strong stay-at-home defenceman and a goalie you can depend on. The centre position isn't an easy fix internally (if they don't believe Fleischmann is the answer), but Ovechkin's youth gives them time to turn the defence over to Alzner and John Carlson. They have time to let Neuvirth (who might just be the best goalie in the organization) get his experience.

The other thing McPhee can do is go to free agents and say, "Look, if you're willing to come here for one season at $1.5-$2 million, you know you're going to score. You can parlay that to a bigger deal." Aside from Chris Kunitz (who signed his deal in Anaheim), no Pittsburgh winger makes more than $2.1 million per season. They have a choice: to stay for below market or strike it rich elsewhere (Ryan Malone). It should be a powerful drawing card.

Have I forgotten anything? Oh yes, see what you can get for Semin.

But the most important thing to realize is this isn't the end of the world. They still have good prospects. They still have an incredible franchise player. They have really team-oriented guys.

There are still great days ahead for the Washington Capitals.

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