Is Time Running Out for Alex Ovechkin?

Even if you are not an NHL fan, you have probably heard about Alex Ovechkin. He's the caveman-looking Russian phenom who has taken the League by storm since he burst onto the scene in 2004. He has been the leading goalscorer for the league for many years, at times the NHL's MVP, winning scoring titles, and bringing a Stanley Cup to America's capital city for the first time in 2018. Ovechkin has been the heart of the Washington Capitals in the modern era. He has overcome many grueling NHL seasons and postseasons to earn his name on the Cup, but now there is one hump he cannot avoid: the cruel fate of Father Time. The clock is ticking on the Capitals and Ovechkin. Their contention window is closing and Ovechkin's contract is expiring. So, the question remains, how much longer can Ovechkin keep up his elite production, and can the Capitals stay afloat?

The 2021 season was by no means a bad one for Ovechkin. He shattered more goal-scoring records as he tied Marcel Dionne with 731 career goals tallied since he began his North American career. The Capitals were lucky enough to finish 2nd in the East Division, arguably the toughest this year. However, there were concerns about the state of the current Capitals team. It is old, and I mean, REALLY old. Ovechkin is 35, his partner-in-crime in Niklas Backstrom is 33, T.J. Oshie is 33; in free agency, the Capitals signed the oldest active player in Zdeno Chara, 44, to help out their shambolic defense. Their other star defender in John Carlson is 30. You get the idea; the Capitals are not exactly a young team. Their "younger" players like Evgeny Kuznetsov, 29, and trade deadline pickup Anthony Mantha, 26, have become sort of anti-tanking veteran players needed to keep a team like the Capitals in the pack. They are no slouches either but they are not takeover players. They don't command the ice like Ovechkin does. This is beginning to hurt the Capitals as they have become less deep down the forward line as they've taken on more veterans and have yet to truly produce a decent prospect that might be good enough to rebuild around. 

The Capitals are fine on offense, but defensively and between the pipes, they have blaring issues. Ilya Samsonov was expected to be the heir-apparent to Braden Holtby following his departure to Vancouver, but the young Russian goaltender has struggled. He lost his starting spot to an undrafted goalie in Vitek Vanecek, who held his own this year. Yet, even Vanecek's luster has started to wear. Carlson is stuck trying to defend with a bunch of middle-six defenders and Chara. It's skeptical to think the defense is how the Capitals got the playoffs this year. Clearly, another year of Ovechkin's scoring prowess is the real reason. However, he is an older player and the burden of trying to keep this team afloat is starting to show the cracks in the foundation. 

Next season, Ovechkin will be 36, and with the speculation swirling about his upcoming free agency, there's not a whole lot of reasons to think he wouldn't re-up with the Capitals. He is the longest-tenured Capital on the current team and was a big reason they finally shed their demons in the 2018 Cup Final. However, with three first-round exits, since Barry Trotz departed for the Islanders, there are some questions about the circumstances in which the Caps won their first Cup. Perhaps Trotz was the visionary who finally figured out how to unlock the team, perhaps his defensive schemes were perfect for going deep in the playoffs, or maybe the matchup was much more favorable considering the Golden Knights were in their infancy when they ran to the Cup Final in their inaugural season. They wanted it, but Ovechkin wanted it more. The team around him now looks like a shell of himself. 

It remains to be seen how GM Brian Maclellan will retool the Capitals and whether Ovechkin will re-up in the District. It's doubtful he goes somewhere else, but it's clear the Caps have to start shedding salary in order to capitalize on the prime of their aging superstar. Whether that means exposing T.J. Oshie in the expansion draft, trading Backstrom or Carlson or Kuznetsov, or just blowing it all up entirely, we can only wait and watch. The fact remains Ovechkin is running out of time to secure another Cup and if the Capitals fail to support him, it will look horrible on them for fumbling the bag.