Washington Capitals: The Cost Of Having Alex Ovechkin

By Patrick Helper |

When the Washington Capitals drafted Alex Ovechkin with the first overall pick in 2004 the hockey world thought the Capitals would start becoming a Stanley Cup contender. But, that has not really been the case. Washing has let Ovechkin down and in turn the Washington Capitals have failed their fan base. Its one thing to lose with talent, but not surrounding a super star like Ovechkin with the proper assets to propel the Capitals to the next level is just bad business.

There is an assumed cost when you have Ovechkin on your roster and it seems that finally the Washington Capitals are prepared to pay up. This off-season the Capitals have added some talented players in

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Justin Williams

and

T.J. Oshie

. The hope is that with a few more offensive weapons Alex Ovechkin will no longer be responsible for the majority of the offensive in Washington. Over the past 10-years Ovechkin has scored more than 50 goals six times and has registered 895 points during the regular season.

For years the Washington Capitals couldn’t count on Ovechkin to play two-way hockey, but last season proved you can teach old dogs new tricks; after putting up a miserable -35 in the 2013-2014 season Alex had a +10. That is the seventh time in his career he has finished the regular season with a positive +/-.

Washing Capitals owner Ted Leonsis is realizing that he could have squandered Ovechkin’s prime. Lenonsis has been quoted in a CSN Washington report as saying “I felt the window to win with (Ovechkin) was 10 years old,” “He’s a fantastic player. I think all of you in this room; don’t take Alex Ovechkin for granted. I think that happens sometimes. You see him all the time and there’s this repetitiveness about his greatness.”

The Capitals have $11,594,537 in cap space still available, but spending to the cap is not something Washington does. The combined cap number of Ovechkin, Williams, and Oshie is $14,038,462 or in other word three players are eating up 19.66% of the Washington Capitals available salary. If the window on the Capitals/Ovechkin era is slowly closing things need to start clicking now. One play alone will not win you the Stanley Cup, but he will make you relevant.

Having Ovechkin on the roster seems to have had some unexpected compilations and those are directly linked to the cost of talent in the NHL. If you want to win the Stanley Cup you need to open up the check book, and while ranking 22 in spending Washington has started to spend to surround their teams and start with the necessary players to hedge their bets.

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