Not if their selfish and arrogant, and have a sense of entitlemen they don't.
- MJL

Not If they score goals and is the offensive leader on the team

Not if they're selfish and arrogant, and have a sense of entitlemen they don't.
- MJL

Entitled to putting their team in a hard spot with $10.5m per season cap hits. And they said they gave a home town discount in that deal, almost laughable.

I wouldn't take Ovechkin. He may score a lot of goals, but they score many more against his team when he is on the ice. A one dimensional player who doesn't play in his own end is not a good player to build my team around.

I would take Weber first.
- MBFlyerfan

I think it's unfair to put it all on Ovchkin. For starters he's a wing. I'm not giving him a free pass because he does have shortcomings by not giving his all away from the puck but in recent years I feel the Washington Capitals are a poorly contructed defensive team. Well, not anymore based on the new high as bench boss and the two defensively responsible defenseman brought in. I expect Washington to be very good this season. I think trading Mike Green is a must for them.

I think it's unfair to put it all on Ovchkin. For starters he's a wing. I'm not giving him a free pass because he does have shortcomings by not giving his all away from the puck but in recent years I feel the Washington Capitals are a poorly contructed defensive team. Well, not anymore based on the new high as bench moss and the two defensively responsible defenseman brought in. I expect Washington to be very good this season.
- SuperSchennBros

Definitely going to be interesting to see which way the they go this year. Hopefully its the way down..

Entitled to putting their team in a hard spot with $10.5m per season cap hits. And they said they gave a home town discount in that deal, almost laughable.
- Peterg

IMO, they're still underpaid relative to their real value to that team. I think most of the top-end stars are getting underpaid as well... too many mediocre guys in the middle soaking up outsized cap space.

I think it's unfair to put it all on Ovchkin. For starters he's a wing. I'm not giving him a free pass because he does have shortcomings by not giving his all away from the puck but in recent years I feel the Washington Capitals are a poorly contructed defensive team. Well, not anymore based on the new high as bench boss and the two defensively responsible defenseman brought in. I expect Washington to be very good this season. I think trading Mike Green is a must for them.
- SuperSchennBros

Yeah it probably is.

But to score 51 goals and still be -35 is almost unbelievable.

And even before this season, he isn't one of the top 5 guys I would build a team around.

IMO, they're still underpaid relative to their real value to that team. I think most of the top-end stars are getting underpaid as well... too many mediocre guys in the middle soaking up outsized cap space.
- Tomahawk

I agree with you, there should be a greater gap between every day NHL'ers and star NHL'ers.

I cannot remember who I had the same argument with about Stamkos having St Louis. St Louis has been a top point collecter for years and he most definitely helps Stamkos. However these two didn't see much of one another this season so it will be interesting how both respond. My point at the time was Giroux doesn't have the same benefit of having a partner in crome at his level.
- SuperSchennBros

I'm interested to see how toews responds when Chicago looks like Pittsburgh in a couple seasons.... Two high priced stars (eating up 28% of the cap) and lesser skilled players filling out the rest of the offense. Aging Hossa on a looong untradable contract, Sharp may be dealt to get compliant. Can't resign all their RFAs next season.

http://flyers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=727548

Lindros, Leclair and Rico.

Leight

But to score 51 goals and still be -35 is almost unbelievable.
- MBFlyerfan

His linemates couldn't finish... Backstrom and Johansson combined for 13 ES goals all year. Even if OV potted 24 at ES by himself, there wasn't much of a chance of that line being a net plus, even if they played out of their minds defensively. Just not enough goals for. I'm really surprised with how badly his teammates shot around him that he wasn't even deeper into the minuses.

Entitled to putting their team in a hard spot with $10.5m per season cap hits. And they said they gave a home town discount in that deal, almost laughable.
- Peterg

Is that what you're basing their sense of entitlement on?

IMO, they're still underpaid relative to their real value to that team. I think most of the top-end stars are getting underpaid as well... too many mediocre guys in the middle soaking up outsized cap space.
- Tomahawk

Actually it's the middle class of NHL players who are going to feel the salary crunch as top salaries continue to escalate.

http://flyers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=727548

Lindros, Leclair and Rico.
- MBFlyerfan

Sarah Baicker ‏@sbaickerCSN · 4m
Lindros & LeClair will be inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame 11/20 (vs. Minn); Desjardins is 2/19 (vs. Buffalo).

http://flyers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=727548

Lindros, Leclair and Rico.
- MBFlyerfan

Time of my life!

His linemates couldn't finish... Backstrom and Johansson combined for 13 ES goals all year. Even if OV potted 24 at ES by himself, there wasn't much of a chance of that line being a net plus, even if they played out of their minds defensively. Just not enough goals for. I'm really surprised with how badly his teammates shot around him that he wasn't even deeper into the minuses.
- Tomahawk

I think most people would agree that Ovechkin could exert more effort, and more consistently, in the defensive zone, and that the Capitals would benefit if he did.

But at the same time, I'm not one who's going to lose sleep over his -35, within the context of things like this. The Caps were horrific at even strength as a team, not just with Ovechkin's line, and they tried to win games with their PP.

It didn't always work, and ultimately, it didn't work enough. But the fact that they were even close, given their ES woes, is a testament to just how much of a weapon that guy is, offensively.

I'm interested to see how toews responds when Chicago looks like Pittsburgh in a couple seasons.... Two high priced stars (eating up 28% of the cap) and lesser skilled players filling out the rest of the offense. Aging Hossa on a looong untradable contract, Sharp may be dealt to get compliant. Can't resign all their RFAs next season.
- moylander

Tough to say. Chicago had to give up half their team after they won a Cup in 2010.

Sarah Baicker ‏@sbaickerCSN · 4m
Lindros & LeClair will be inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame 11/20 (vs. Minn); Desjardins is 2/19 (vs. Buffalo).
- PhillySportsGuy

Well deserved, for all of them. Wish I could get to that Minnesota game...maybe I need to throw some cash at that issue, see if me and the Mrs. can get in there.

http://flyers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=727548

Lindros, Leclair and Rico.
- MBFlyerfan

Well, those Novemeber 20th tickets likely just went up about $50 each on the secondary market.

His linemates couldn't finish... Backstrom and Johansson combined for 13 ES goals all year. Even if OV potted 24 at ES by himself, there wasn't much of a chance of that line being a net plus, even if they played out of their minds defensively. Just not enough goals for. I'm really surprised with how badly his teammates shot around him that he wasn't even deeper into the minuses.
- Tomahawk

Backstrom is a playmaker, who probably passes up some good shot opportunities to pass the puck to Ovechkin. Also Ovechkin shooting the puck at a high level, doesn't help either. He had far and away more shots then any player in the League.

Backstrom and Ovechkin had more ES goals combined then Giroux and Voracek did. They were able to be a net plus.

A big part of why the Ovechkin line was a net negative was due to lousy defensive play. No way around that.

I'm interested to see how toews responds when Chicago looks like Pittsburgh in a couple seasons.... Two high priced stars (eating up 28% of the cap) and lesser skilled players filling out the rest of the offense. Aging Hossa on a looong untradable contract, Sharp may be dealt to get compliant. Can't resign all their RFAs next season.
- moylander

I agree with you, very interesting.

I agree with you, very interesting.
- Peterg

The same thing was said when Chicago had to make moves after beating the Flyers for the Cup.

Yeah it probably is.

But to score 51 goals and still be -35 is almost unbelievable.

And even before this season, he isn't one of the top 5 guys I would build a team around.
- MBFlyerfan

I think a lot of arguments could be made for Alex Ovechkin. For starters, until this season the Caps were consistently making the playoffs, a lot of this has to do with Ov. You can't really say the same for Tampa regardless of whether or not they had Stamkos, St Louis or Lecavalier. Ov is easily more physical then both Stamkos and Crosby. Ov has never had the same supporting cast as Crosby. Stamkos doesn't exactly strike me as a Selke nominated forward but I think it is safe to assume he's much better defensively. You have to keep in mind that Stamkos is a shoot first winger, with St Louis gone, he's going to need someone to feed him like any other shoot first player (Not to say Stamkos won't continue to be great).

Sarah Baicker ‏@sbaickerCSN · 4m
Lindros & LeClair will be inducted into the Flyers Hall of Fame 11/20 (vs. Minn); Desjardins is 2/19 (vs. Buffalo).
- PhillySportsGuy

Rico was my hero after Mark Howe
People ragged on him at the end of his career but he gave us a lot of great years. Not big just effective
I miss having a guy like that.Even made Chris Therien a plus player