It looks like Capitals fans can start preparing for another season of Alex Ovechkin.
Despite yet another disappointing playoff run that fell short of the conference finals, it doesn’t appear as though the Capitals plan to trade their captain. General manager Brian MacLellan confirmed as much while speaking to the media Tuesday afternoon.
“People are looking for a major solution to what we have going on. I think part of it is they watch certain things in his game and then it shows up and they say, ‘That’s not acceptable,’” MacLellan said of Ovechkin. “But he’s a big part of our franchise, a big part of our history. He’s been a big part of where we’re at as an organization and just to casually say, ‘Let’s trade him.’ For what? For who? I don’t think it makes sense from an organizational point of view.”
Still, MacLellan didn’t completely rule out the possibility of an Ovechkin trade.
“Maybe at some point if there’s a legitimate hockey deal that came available,” MacLellan continued, “but I don’t know that that’s where we’re at right now.”
If ever there were a “maybe” heard around the hockey world, this would be it.
The 31-year-old Ovechkin is one of this generation’s greatest goal scorers (he’s third among active players with 558), but the Russian’s impressive career in Washington has been plagued by postseason disappointment. Since drafting Ovechkin first overall in 2004, the Capitals have yet to make it out of the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
And this spring, after the Caps were eliminated by the Penguins in the second round for the second year in a row after garnering the Presidents’ Trophy for the best record in the regular season, the Ovechkin trade rumors seemed inevitable.
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In years past, even entertaining the thought of trading an offensive genius like Ovechkin — who has four years left on the 13-year, $124 million deal he signed in 2008 — seemed like a silly idea. Now the Capitals, getting younger and due to lose players to free agency, are a team in transition, and MacLellan’s “maybe” could indicate the door to a trade has been cracked open.
Whether he plays out the rest of his career in Washington or somewhere else, the Capitals are well on their way to planning for life after the three-time MVP.