Why Capitals F Alex Ovechkin Won’t Go To Vegas
By Santagata JJ
Alex Ovechkin: We’ve heard rumors this week regarding Ovi being in the trade talk spectrum, are these legit rumors? Possibly, but one of the three teams have no shot at getting Ovechkin.
Alex Ovechkin: Alright time to nip this Alexander Ovechkin to Vegas rumor in the butt. If you have not heard supposedly three teams are throwing trade offers Washington’s way regarding Ovechkin, the one blockbuster offer as you’ve probably heard was from Calgary. Supposedly, who knows the legitimacy of it. Aside from Calgary, Vegas has said to be also talking to Washington, now before anyone gets their hopes up, there is literally 0% chance Ovechkin goes to Vegas.
Now think about why Ovechkin will never go to Vegas, well maybe not ever, but right now, no shot. Ovechkin was drafted first overall by Washington in 2004, and since then the team has built
a team around Ovechkin, he’s been the captain for seven years now.
Besides the point that Washington has built their franchise around the guy, seem to really like Ovechkin and support anything he says or does off the ice. Another reason that stands out here is, Ovechkin has been with the Capitals for thirteen years, amounted a total of 1035 points, Calder Trophy one time, Art Ross Trophy one time, Ted Lindsay Award three times, Hart Memorial Trophy three times and Maurice Richard Trophy six times, with all of Ovechkin’s personal success on the ice, the Washington Capitals have not won a Stanley Cup in Ovechkin’s 13 years and have not passed beyond the 2nd round of the playoffs in all of Ovechkin’s 13 years.
While Ovechkin has had his own success on the ice, we all know Ovechkin as an extremely competitive player and it would be foolish to think he does not want to win a Stanley Cup soon. With all the news surrounding the Capitals over the last three years, being “our year” in counter to their minimal playoff success, Ovechkin wants to win in Washington and not anywhere else.
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Aside from the counter arguments I’ve made this far regarding Ovechkin going to Vegas, another reason would be, he is 31-years-old, how much longer does he have in the league, five, six years? Enough time to win a Stanley Cup in Washington rather than going to a team’s first year as an NHL team where Vegas would more than likely be a lower tier team for a good part of Ovechkin’s remaining years. Ovechkin is a franchise player, but as a 31-year-old the probability of building a franchise around a player of that age is unlikely and something Vegas would have a difficult time doing.
Not convinced yet? Well Ovechkin had a bit of a down year and we saw his totals in the goal category decrease a bit along with his production over the last three years, he’s aging, goalies are starting to figure him out and he has the help around him where he doesn’t need to score 50 goals a year anymore, per say he was to go to Vegas, they would not have any legitimate players to pair with Ovechkin and he would be expected to come in and score 50+ goals and 100+ points in Vegas, where in Washington he has the help of four to five other forwards where Ovechkin does not need to carry all the slack anymore.
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Last but not least, Ovechkin would not sell out the fans of Washington like that to take a juicer contract and be the limelight for a brand new organization, as we’ve seen other athletes of other sports do that, hockey players and Ovechkin, in particular, would not betray his city and his teammates like that.