{"id":25554,"date":"2016-05-18T08:04:10","date_gmt":"2016-05-18T15:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/caps-gm-says-its-on-him-to-keep-ovechkins-cup-window-open\/"},"modified":"2016-05-18T08:04:10","modified_gmt":"2016-05-18T15:04:10","slug":"caps-gm-says-its-on-him-to-keep-ovechkins-cup-window-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/sports\/caps-gm-says-its-on-him-to-keep-ovechkins-cup-window-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Caps’ GM says it’s on him to keep Ovechkin’s Cup window open"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON, Va.<\/strong> \u2014 There are hints of gray in Alex Ovechkin\u2019s hair now and his 31st birthday is a few months away.<\/p>\n

Ovechkin isn\u2019t old, not even in hockey years, and is coming off a 50-goal season. But Washington Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan knows Ovechkin\u2019s prime years as a player won\u2019t last forever, which adds urgency to the team\u2019s push for a Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n

After another early playoff exit, MacLellan said it\u2019s up to him and the rest of the front office to make sure Ovechkin\u2019s playoff window doesn\u2019t close too soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur job is to surround him with a little more depth so there\u2019s not the pressure,\u201d MacLellan said. \u201cI think he can play a lot more if he doesn\u2019t feel that pressure that he needs to win the games. … I think he can play longer given a good team, a deep team. I mean, if you\u2019re going to put pressure on him every night to carry the team, he\u2019s not going to be more excited about playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what the Detroit Red Wings did 20 years ago for Steve Yzerman, the face of that franchise and who like Ovechkin shouldered the blame for a lack of playoff success. Yzerman finally won the Cup in his 14th season at the age of 32 and finished with his name on the trophy three times.<\/p>\n

The Capitals have made the playoffs eight times in the last nine seasons with Ovechkin and All-Star linemate Nicklas Backstrom, yet have failed to reach the third round. MacLellan at the trade deadline referenced a two-year Cup window for this core that included 2015-16 and 2016-17 but on Monday hedged that.<\/p>\n

Contracts for top-six forwards Justin Williams and T.J. Oshie and top-pairing defenseman Karl Alzner expire after next season, and blossoming center Evgeny Kuznetsov will be in line for a substantial raise. It\u2019ll be one of the most important summers for the Capitals in determining their long-term direction and chances of winning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know that the window closes off, but it\u2019s got to change because money needs to be allocated to different players and that sometimes squeezes out other players,\u201d MacLellan said. \u201cThe situation will change after next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ovechkin is signed for five more seasons and Backstrom is locked in for four more. Despite that, patience is in short supply after Washington lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games, ending another run at the Cup after finishing with the most points in the NHL.<\/p>\n

The emergence of Kuznetsov and 2013 first-round pick Andre Burakovsky means the Capitals should be contenders for at least a few more years. But Backstrom is 28 now and has thought about how time is running out on him and Ovechkin.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt absolutely crosses your mind,\u201d Backstrom said. \u201cEven if we have long contracts, it\u2019s up to the GM and the owners to evaluate everybody and how they want to go forward here, which players they want to have here and stuff like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

MacLellan said the entire team is \u201cagitated and angry\u201d right now and implied only small tweaks are coming for next season. The expectations will be high again, especially for Ovechkin and Backstrom \u2014 the only Capitals players to go through all eight playoff appearances.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrustration is probably at a different level with Nick and Ovi because they\u2019ve been through a lot over their careers,\u201d MacLellan said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard when they don\u2019t achieve the success they wanted to achieve as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than pondering the chances he has left, Ovechkin thinks about what it will take to get back in form next season, when the Capitals should again be among league\u2019s best.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re in good shape and right now you have to take months off or whatever and start doing it again,\u201d Ovechkin said. \u201cIt\u2019s not fun, to be honest with you. When you get older, you have to take more time to practice and train (than) when you was 21 or 22 years old. But again, it\u2019s life and you have to live with it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ARLINGTON, Va. \u2014 There are hints of gray in Alex Ovechkin\u2019s hair now and his 31st birthday is a few months away. Ovechkin isn\u2019t old, not even in hockey years, and is coming off a 50-goal season. But Washington Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan knows Ovechkin\u2019s prime years as a player won\u2019t last forever, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":6,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-25554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25554\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25554"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=25554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}