Alexander Ovechkin is still the main show in town

 Even after all these years, Russian superstar Alexander Ovechkin is still the leading scorer with the Washington Capitals. The offense flows through him, and
given the state of other sports in the DC area, it's not too far a stretch to say he is the biggest athlete going in the nation's capital right now.

Of course, just like the rest of DC teams, the Caps are not in playoff position right now. They are 9th in the East, but 5 points out of the second wild card spot, It's a far cry from the halcyon days of the Capitals, who have watched the rest of the Southeast pass them by. 

It's not hard to see that things are off with the Caps. Yes, Alexander Ovechkin is still the leading scorer for Washington, but were he on, say, the Minnesota Wild, in about the same position out West, Ovechkin would be #5 in points. Ovi is still leading the Capitals, but instead of a pronouncement of his extensive talent, it is more of a condemnation of the rest of the team.

Decent goaltending and a solid backline are keeping the Caps in the hunt, even as their offense runs through a 38 year old on the downside of his career. In fact, they are close enough with few enough teams ahead of them that they might take a swing at the deadline to get them back in.

And well they should. For most teams, most players, I would say Ovechkin himself should be on his way out of town, but not someone who has spent nearly 20 years associated with the organization. Not the greatest player ever in the organization. The Caps are simply better off giving Ovechkin a send off, rather than trying start building for next year, with or without Ovechkin.

Sometimes building a team back is the right move, but Alexander Ovechkin is the best thing Washington has going on the sports scene. Let him keep doing that through the rest of the year. 

Tweet of the Moment

 

Thank you to Alexander Kirkland for being our Black History Celebration Night flag bearer on Saturday presented by @BMO_US! #mnwild pic.twitter.com/4v4eaF57id

— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) February 21, 2024

Hockey, of course, is lagging behind the rest of the sports world for inclusion of all races and communities, and if any market has demonstrated in the last several years that the bridge between cultures needs to be mended, it's Minnesota. Hopefully this is a tool to start building all the relationships that need building, recognizing Black youth hockey players in the Twin Cities areas, including a kid who might be the heir to the Costco Store Brand empire

HOT TAKE: All Star Games are boring

All Star Games are inherently dumb. They are midseason breaks (in most leagues) for all but the very best players in their respective sports. The best players don't get their time off, but aren't really trying very hard either. It's a spectacle that fewer and fewer seem interested in, but still we do it because, well, we like spectacles. 

With as dumb as all star events are, to me the most asinine sports arguments are "who got snubbed" questions about these events, or any attempts at practical analysis of them. All star events are dumb. Analysis of the events are dumb. But this site is also dumb, so here we go.

When I was younger, and the appeal of all star events was seeing how the leagues matched up. Sure, players for the Wild and Blues were rivals, but was this rivalry better than, say, the Leafs and Canadiens? Often times yes. The West versus East was fun enough on it's own, but then, the NHL even refined their mid-season showcase.

 Instead of a full game, the NHL was able to leverage the structure of a hockey game into a brief 4 team tournament. Instead of playing conference vs conference, they played all four divisions, the two in the west in period 1, the two in the east in period 2, and the championship in period 3. It was a more granular version of the grand experiment that an all star game could be. Which division was the best?

Now, it's all gone. The NHL i like the NBA did, and opted for player draft. It's still the same 4 team mini tournament format, but now it's about finding out who is friend with who, and somehow has even less at stake than all star games had in the past.

I hope they don't get as many viewers, because I don't think a bunch of hockey bros hanging out is particularly interesting. I went to high school in Minnesota, so maybe that's a personal bias, but I'd still rather pit divisions, or even conferences against each other once a gain.