E.L. wrote:
Russian hockey journalist in DC Slava Malamud absolutely eviscerated Ovi on Twitter last night, saying he doesn't have the personality to carry a team. He's known Alex since he was 17 and says his fellow Russian journalists feel the same but feel uneasy about voicing it, especially ones back home since Ovi is a public face of Putin's propaganda machine.
Ovi comes from a rich family and has grown up being told by everyone that he's the best and doesn't understand what it means to lead. He says Leonsis has built the Caps world around Ovi and they're basically in a fantasy land.
On the flip side, we've seen Ovi play a reckless, all-out style of hockey that you certainly don't see from the kind of passenger or spoiled rich kid that they seem to think Ovi is. We've also heard from Bruce Boudreau that he's entirely coachable and will do what is asked of him. He did what Dale Hunter asked of him. He did what Oates asked of him.
Maybe he isn't the a great leader or isn't built to carry a team anymore. But is that his fault that for his entire career his team hasn't made changes to adjust to that? Like, weren't Brooks Orpik and Justin Williams supposed to be some kind of magic tonic to fix this team's losing ways? If this is coming from Leonsis all the way down, then blame Leonsis.
People love to criticize Kessel and Ovechkin because they aren't Toews and Crosby. Well, how many guys can be? I grow tired of everyone wanting or expecting star players to be the perfect players. We live in a world where Malkin isn't a top-100 player, apparently.
Some of his defensive laziness is inexcusable, yes. But people love to take those small playoff samples and turn them into a larger narrative. There's so much that goes into it besides one guy. This isn't basketball.