ANALYSIS/OPINION:
If you are looking for any signs that the Washington Capitals may be a different version of every other Capitals team in the past that has teased in January and then disappointed in May, the announcement that Alex Ovechkin is bowing out of the All-Star Game may be one.
It’s symbolic in nature only — it may not do much good in the seventh game of the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs at Madison Square Garden — but the message is the right one.
The Capitals — and Ovechkin — aren’t interested in mid-season parties. They’ve had their fill of showcases.
The decision by the Capitals and Ovechkin, a player and personality who All-Star Games were created for, to sit out the festivities in Nashville this weekend shows a single-mindedness to the only party and showcase that matters — the one that will free this organization from more than 40 years of failed expectations.
You might think, given all the playoff disappointments — embarrassments at times — that the single-minded quest to win the Stanley Cup should be obvious, and yes, it should. But this is still a message worth delivering to a fanbase torn between standing and cheering for a team that has played the best hockey in the league this season and sitting on their hands, fearful to commit to another postseason heartbreak.
SEE ALSO: Nicklas Backstrom, after years of waiting, honored with All-Star Game selection
Capitals coach Barry Trotz — who will coach in the All-Star Game — delivered that message to reporters after Washington lost, 4-3, to the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night at Verizon Center.
“We have to make the right decision,” Trotz said. “You don’t win a Stanley Cup. You don’t get two points for [the All-Star] Game. You get prize money. For us, it’s not about the prize money. We have a bigger goal, and if we want to get to where we want to get to, we can’t do it without Alex Ovechkin being 100 percent.”
The injury, which Trotz described as a lower-body injury that Ovechkin has been struggling with since mid-November, hasn’t stopped him from playing and certainly didn’t seem to affect him when he went end-to-end with a spectacular goal to win, 4-3, in overtime against the New York Rangers on Jan. 9. It hasn’t stopped the durable Ovechkin from playing in nearly every single Capitals game so far this season.
“It’s basically like, if you have injury, you have to do all the treatments to take care of yourself,” Ovechkin told reporters. “In a game, sometimes you have to just forget about it and play. Sometimes, I just feel not that bad and sometimes, I feel bad and I just kind of settle down and sit on the bench and look at Trotz and say, ’It’s not that good.’”
Ovechkin, who will be replaced in the game by teammate Evgeny Kuznetsov, wasn’t just another all-star. He was voted captain of the Metropolitan Division team for the league’s new three-on-three tournament. Trotz has wondered if that new format could put added stress on a player with lower-body injuries. Now, the Capitals will have to sit Ovechkin for the first game after the All-Star Game, which is Tuesday against the Florida Panthers, per NHL rules.
If it was the seventh game of the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs at Madison Square Garden, Ovechkin would play. But it’s not — and that’s the point.
“We talk about it maybe last couple weeks and last week, it was very serious — Should I go? Should I not go?” Ovechkin said.
You know it is probably killing Ovechkin not to be part of the league’s all-star party. This was the seventh invitation for him, a franchise record. He embraces the spotlight, the big stage, but the reality is that All-Star Game performances aren’t what they’ll remember Ovechkin for years from now.
It will be a Stanley Cup — or the lack of it on his resume, greatness with a sad asterisk.
“The ultimate goal for us is to go deeper [in the playoffs] than we did last year, so sometimes, you have to make those decisions,” Trotz said.
The irony is that this will be the first All-Star Game for Ovechkin’s partner on the ice, Nicklas Backstrom. This game means a lot more to Backstrom, who has been overlooked in years past. He and Kuznetsov will be joined by Capitals goalie Braden Holtby, also making his first all-star appearance.
But Holtby is on the same page with Ovechkin when it comes to the purpose of this team.
“It’ll be an experience,” Holtby said. “It’ll be fun, but my main thing is to get through it without losing focus of what we’re trying to do here with the Caps.”
In case you haven’t been paying attention, Barry Trotz and Alex Ovechkin reminded everyone this week about what they are trying to do with the Washington Capitals.
⦁ Thom Loverro is co-host of “The Sports Fix,” noon to 2 p.m. daily on ESPN 980 and espn980.com.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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