We've Seen This Before
By Adrian Dater
November 3, 2009
Peter Forsberg, Eric Lindros and Alex Ovechkin. What do they all have in common? If Ovechkin doesn’t smarten up, he’ll end up having too much in common with the other two.
Ovechkin once said “Russian machine never break, what can you say?” to reporters who questioned his reckless physical style.
But the Russian machine is broken right now, "week-to-week" as the Caps tell it. Thinking he was immune to the physical laws of the universe, the Washington Capitals’ mega-star has played hockey like he’s car No. 8 at the hick-town demolition derby.
He’d missed only four games in his career entering this season, so no wonder Ovie thought he was invincible. That’s how Forsberg and Lindros used to think, too.
Being physical was partly why Forsberg and Lindros were great players in their prime and fun to watch, but it’s also why their careers ended far too soon (though Forsberg is trying another comeback now in Sweden). Forsberg never could resist getting into it with goons who’d put a chippy hit on him. Of course, that became the book on him: get him mad with a cheap shot, get him off his game and, with some luck, he might get himself hurt too.
Same thing with Lindros.
That has become the book on Ovechkin, too, and now he’s got the first serious injury of his NHL career. The Caps won’t say what it is, other than an “upper body strain”, but a lot of people are whispering it could be a slightly separated left shoulder. He suffered the injury after getting into it with Columbus’ Raffi Torres and, before that, with Jason Chimera, in a game Sunday night.
Ovechkin is an admirably fierce player, and nobody is saying he should turn into Lady Byng. But Ovechkin is made of flesh and bone just like the rest of us, and it’s not going to do his team any good if he puts his body at unnecessary risk by getting into it with slugs like Raffi Torres.
Ovechkin has to stop doing the dirty work himself, and outsource it to the real goons on his team. Every superstar needs a bodyguard, to deal with the riffraff, and Ovechkin is no exception.
Forsberg and Lindros would be among the first to tell that to the Great 8.
Adrian Dater covers the NHL for the Denver Post
