Sep 27, 2013; Washington, DC, USA; Washington Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov (81) skates with the puck as Philadelphia Flyers center Brayden Schenn (10) chases in the second period at Verizon Center. The Capitals won 6-3. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
First off, happy Thanksgiving American friends and fans! Second sorry about the little hiatus life has been pretty hectic lately but I found something last night that piqued my interest enough to rant about it. I came across an article on Dmitry Orlov‘s agent pretty much flipping out on the Washington Capitals about the way his client has been treated. Here is one of the things he said according to The Score:
"“Obviously, what Dmitry would like is to be traded because he has no future in Washington whatsoever, zero chance for him.”"
Orlov is not the first player to request a trade from Washington, he’s not even the first to request a trade this week. Martin Erat has also made it clear he wants out as well. The question is what is so bad about the Washington Capitals that no one seems to want to play there?
Here are some other quotes from Dmitry’s agent that shed a little light on the situation:
"“It’s getting increasingly difficult for him to handle this, emotionally and also physically. He’s coming into Washington knowing he’s not going to get into the game no matter what. God forbid, this team would have to go down with the flu for Dmitry to get in – everyone.”“If he’s not an NHL player there’s no reason to marinate him in the minors. Let him go. The easier solution, and it’s a great solution for everybody, is for him to be traded. I’ve been in this business 25 years. I don’t think there is a problem finding a team that would like him.”"
My theory is that Washington focuses too much on it’s star player that the support get mistreated. Even talented players don’t want to stay. Look at Alexander Semin. Once he was a free agent he chose to sign with the Carolina Hurricanes most likely because he was sick of living in Alex Ovechkin‘s shadow. Now in Carolina he is one of many stars instead of just back-up for Ovie.
This dependence on Ovechkin is killing the Capitals. It was evident in the game they played against the Toronto Maple Leafs. All the Leafs had to do on the penalty kill is cover Ovechkin and they could totally shut out the Caps power play. Once the Caps realized the Leafs had figured this out they didn’t know what to do. The Leafs won the game 2-1 in a shoot out and the Caps went 0/3 on the power play.
Ovechkin and his ego seem to be running the show in Washington and as a result no one wants to play there. They are going to have a hard time finding teams willing to trade decent players to a clearly hostile environment which could be bad news for Orlov and Erat. The Capitals need to learn that one man does not make a team.
What do you think? Does Ovechkin run the show? Is there something else going on in Washington causing players to jump ship? Do you think more players will request trades? Share your thoughts in the comment box below, on facebook, or on twitter.