What happened to Ovechkin?

[pens#1]

i wish this thread would have started Friday moring after we beat the Caps

[The U]

Tiger Woods and Ovi had the same steroid doctor who got busted. Hmm.....what a coincidence.

Last year was also an Olympic year where steroid/drug testing is off the charts strict compared to NHL testing. That also coincided with Ovi's downturn.

[KennyTheKangaroo]

so this steriod doctor guy gets arrested and these powerful millionaire athletes cant find another crooked replacement doctor after a few years? Not buying it for one second. Ovechkin may have been on the sauce, but it just seems implausible that he would quit because he no longer has a doctor to supply him the goods.

[columbia]

so this steriod doctor guy gets arrested and these powerful millionaire athletes cant find another crooked replacement doctor after a few years? Not buying it for one second. Ovechkin may have been on the sauce, but it just seems implausible that he would quit because he no longer has a doctor to supply him the goods.

Or....they realized that they might be busted and stopped.

Spoiler:

I'm just feeding the conspiracy theory.

[DocEmrick]

[Shakes]

For the Caps to win, they need to tap into their old-school hard-helmet mentality from the early 90's, and add Ovechkin-Backstrom-Green to a team of punky grinders. Maybe they fire Bodreau and bring in Dale Hunter. Maybe they trade Semin for a gritty shutdown center.

Yep.

Re: Semin, even if he ups his value by February, I doubt any team will rent him for a few months in exchange for a decent center. Then again, I've seen worse deals.

[CERV96]

The secret lies with Charlotte

[DocEmrick]

[columbia]

AO's limited NTC doesn't kick in until July 2014.

[DocEmrick]

Winger for Sid?

[Sarcastic]

This Oilers' fan has an idea of what happened to Ovechkin. You may want to get ready, as there is a reference to a certain Cindy Crybaby. I must add that I have a very difficult time reading that forum. It is full of children or some very stupid people.

http://fans.capitals.nhl.com/community/ ... s-decline/

[Mongoose87]

That's a horrible theory!

[Physical_Graffiti]

I must add that I have a very difficult time reading that forum. It is full of children or some very stupid people.

No kidding; I in no way hate the Washington Capitals, but that forum is just ******ed (aside from paidinfull).

[Factorial]

This Oilers' fan has an idea of what happened to Ovechkin. You may want to get ready, as there is a reference to a certain Cindy Crybaby. I must add that I have a very difficult time reading that forum. It is full of children or some very stupid people.

http://fans.capitals.nhl.com/community/ ... s-decline/

So, it's the Lamestream drive by sports media keepin' him down?

[ron_duguays_hair]

FYI: I googled Washington Capitals .and steroids

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/h ... index.html

Polk County (Fla.) sheriff Grady Judd was having dinner at Louie Mack's Steakhouse in Lakeland last May when he received a call from a veteran narcotics officer about a large cache of drugs that his unit had seized. "It was like an entire drugstore," Judd says of the stock of pills, bottles and syringes -- more than $200,000 worth and some containing steroids -- ­that detectives had found in the home of Richard Thomas, a former bodybuilder who for years had been peddling anabolic steroids that authorities say he imported from at least 20 countries.
Judd figured the media would want to know whether Thomas had dealt to athletes, so before he held a press conference announcing the seizure, he had a detective ask Thomas directly. "You name the sport, and I've sold steroids to athletes who play it," Thomas replied. He pointed to the Washington Nationals and Capitals as teams whose players he had dealt drugs to, though he did not name specific athletes.

When Major League Baseball (having learned the hard way what can happen when it ignores steroid allegations) learned of Thomas's claims, its security officials immediately called law enforcement authorities in Florida to offer cooperation, and also launched an internal investigation. MLB -- which Judd praised for its ­cooperation -- would not comment on its investigation. The NFL was in contact too, though Thomas had not mentioned any football teams or players. Neither the Capitals nor the NHL called, but they publicly promised internal investigations.

The NHL has reason to be especially interested. Last month detectives from the Polk County Sheriff's Tactical Drug Unit, working with the U.S. marshal's office, arrested a Thomas client, Douglas Nagel, a Virginia chiropractor who has treated Capitals players and keeps an office in a mall adjacent to the team's practice facility. Last September, Nagel told investigators that he was a client of Thomas's and that he had mailed money for steroids, including testosterone and nandrolone. Nagel, who is charged with eight counts related to steroid distribution (he has yet to enter a plea), also told investigators that he had treated Capitals players referred to him by that team's athletic trainer Greg Smith, whom detectives interviewed in September 2009 and again on March 23.

On the day of Nagel's arrest NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly issued a statement: "Based on the investigation we have done and the information we have, there is no evidence that Dr. Nagel ever supplied (or even offered to supply) performance enhancing drugs to any current or past member of the Washington Capitals." The Capitals issued a statement as well: "This has been a thorough investigation, and we are satisfied that law enforcement, the NHL and our own internal investigation have not led to any link of steroid use by Capitals players."

However, according to an April 7 e-mail from Ian Floyd of the Polk County Sheriff's Tactical Drug Unit to Judd (his boss), there are serious questions about the investigations conducted by the NHL and the Capitals. "I called and spoke with [NHL executive vice president of security] Dennis Cunningham today in reference to the official statements made by the Washington Capitals and NHL regarding the 'thorough investigation,'" reads the e-mail, which Judd allowed SI to review. "Mr. Cunningham admitted that contrary to the below issued statements, no investigation was ever conducted into Dr. Nagel and his ties to steroids and Capitals players by anyone with the NHL."

When presented with an excerpt of the e-mail, Daly told SI through an NHL spokesman, "We stand by the public statements that we have provided on the subject, including the fact that the NHL investigated the matter and has closed its investigation. We have nothing else to say on the subject."

According to Floyd's e-mail, when he asked the Capitals about their investigation, a team official also told him that none had been undertaken. "During a conversation I had with [Capitals assistant general manager and director of legal affairs] Don Fishman," the e-mail reads, "he advised that no investigation had been conducted by the Capitals into Dr. Nagel's potential involvement with steroids and Capitals players. Mr. Fishman advised that any investigation would have been conducted by Dennis Cunningham from the NHL's security office."
Capitals spokesman Kurt Kehl wrote in an e-mail to SI that the team conducted a "brief investigation, but the more extensive investigation was led by the NHL and Dennis Cunningham." The league would not make Cunningham available for comment.

After Nagel's arrest last month, Polk County investigators interviewed Capitals forwards Matt Bradley and Eric Fehr and defenseman Shaone Morrisonn, all of whom had been treated by Nagel. The players told reporters that the interviews were short and basic and that they told investigators they had seen Nagel for legitimate medical purposes. "We have nothing to hide here," Morrisonn told reporters on March 24. "We're all tested throughout the year. The NHL has a testing policy, and it's not an issue with this team."

But unlike MLB or the NFL, the NHL does not test during the off-season, nor once the playoffs have started. (This week the Capitals are facing the Canadiens in an Eastern Conference quarterfinal series.) Polk County officials noticed that of the 10 FedEx and U.S. Postal Service labels for packages mailed in 2008 and '09 between Thomas and Nagel that law enforcement officials obtained in their investigation, eight are dated during the period when the Capitals were either in the playoffs or out of season, and one was dated the day before the end of the 2007-08 season. After the arrest of Nagel, says Judd, "the NHL head of security was more concerned about how we got jurisdiction to arrest him [in Virginia]."
"I don't know whether the NHL has a steroid issue or not," Judd says, "but they certainly are very uncomfortable with us asking questions about it." The lesson of baseball's steroid era is a simple one: transparency -- not obfuscation or passivity
-- is always the better course.

Right across from their practice facility. Huh. Interesting.

[Staggy]

The best part of that Caps forum was someone saying how Sid played with Kovy and Lemieux his rookie year. LOL

[Desiato]

Ovechkin came into the league at the start of the "new NHL" when fast and skilled players dominated for a couple of seasons. Since then, players have become more athletic as teams have adapted, resulting in greater athletic parity. At the same time, Ovechkin has failed to evolve as an athlete or hockey player.

Another consideration is that I believe he has always been overrated. His goals looked great in highlights, but when you watched the games, you saw a lot of open linemates, missed shots and failed 1 on 5 rushes, with absolutely no discipline. He scored a lot because he shot a lot.

Finally, his game has certainly changed. He played a reckless, physically unsustainable style for years. I don't think he can do it every game anymore.

But I don't think he's as bad as he's played lately. I think he's been playing poorly to get his coach fired. I won't count him out yet.

[shmenguin]

Ovechkin came into the league at the start of the "new NHL" when fast and skilled players dominated for a couple of seasons. Since then, players have become more athletic as teams have adapted, resulting in greater athletic parity. At the same time, Ovechkin has failed to evolve as an athlete or hockey player.

Another consideration is that I believe he has always been overrated. His goals looked great in highlights, but when you watched the games, you saw a lot of open linemates, missed shots and failed 1 on 5 rushes, with absolutely no discipline. He scored a lot because he shot a lot.

Finally, his game has certainly changed. He played a reckless, physically unsustainable style for years. I don't think he can do it every game anymore.

But I don't think he's as bad as he's played lately. I think he's been playing poorly to get his coach fired. I won't count him out yet.

if you could score 60 goals..or even 50 goals...or hell, even 40 goals by just shooting a lot, everyone would just shoot a lot. he was an elite athlete and less lazy with his stickwork and skating. so he scored a lot more.

[Wrangler98]

Ovechkin is fat. There's really not anything else to it.

[Desiato]

if you could score 60 goals..or even 50 goals...or hell, even 40 goals by just shooting a lot, everyone would just shoot a lot. he was an elite athlete and less lazy with his stickwork and skating. so he scored a lot more.

Don't get me wrong. He's a superstar. Yet, still overrated by the press for most of his career in my opinion. While certainly a productive goal scorer, he has not been even close to the most efficient.

When I say he shot more than other players, I don't mean 10 shots. Or 50. Or even 100. I mean up to 186 more shots. In 08/09, he had an astounding 42% more shots than Eric Staal who was number two in shots that year. He scored 56 goals on 528 shots for a shooting percentage of 10.6%. If you exclude his league leading 5 empty net goals, his shooting percentage goes down to 9.75%. Mike Bossy he is not.

The media (even the Illuminati wing of the Canadian hockey media) painted him as potentially the greatest goal scorer ever. This is clearly untrue. It can be argued, because of his inefficiency, he may not be the greatest goal scorer in any individual season.

Consider that in his 65 goal season, he had 38% more goals than Malkin (47), but he took 64% more shots than Malkin. He had 25% more goals than Kovalchuk (52) but needed 58% more shots. His 528 shots in 08/09 equals Malkin and Crosby combined that year.

If you dig deeper and consider missed shots, Ovechkin is revealed to be even more inefficient.

[shmenguin]

if you could score 60 goals..or even 50 goals...or hell, even 40 goals by just shooting a lot, everyone would just shoot a lot. he was an elite athlete and less lazy with his stickwork and skating. so he scored a lot more.

Don't get me wrong. He's a superstar. Yet, still overrated by the press for most of his career in my opinion. While certainly a productive goal scorer, he has not been even close to the most efficient.

When I say he shot more than other players, I don't mean 10 shots. Or 50. Or even 100. I mean up to 186 more shots. In 08/09, he had an astounding 42% more shots than Eric Staal who was number two in shots that year. He scored 56 goals on 528 shots for a shooting percentage of 10.6%. If you exclude his league leading 5 empty net goals, his shooting percentage goes down to 9.75%. Mike Bossy he is not.

The media (even the Illuminati wing of the Canadian hockey media) painted him as potentially the greatest goal scorer ever. This is clearly untrue. It can be argued, because of his inefficiency, he may not be the greatest goal scorer in any individual season.

Consider that in his 65 goal season, he had 38% more goals than Malkin (47), but he took 64% more shots than Malkin. He had 25% more goals than Kovalchuk (52) but needed 58% more shots. His 528 shots in 08/09 equals Malkin and Crosby combined that year.

If you dig deeper and consider missed shots, Ovechkin is revealed to be even more inefficient.

still doesn't matter. same standards apply. even if it involved taking 200% more shots that malkin, every player would do it and every coach would encourage it if it meant 65 goals were coming.

[columbia]

Kennedy led all Penguins Fs last year in shots and he's back on the 3rd line.
Coaches are also aware of efficiency and efficacy.

[Desiato]

still doesn't matter. same standards apply. even if it involved taking 200% more shots that malkin, every player would do it and every coach would encourage it if it meant 65 goals were coming.

That would only be true if teams played to win the Rocket Richard trophy. Almost every team is either playing to make the playoffs or win the cup. This is a team sport, remember?

I think it goes without saying that if any player shoots more, they will score more; but probably with less efficiency. Ovehkin's shot is much better than his low shooting percentage suggests, which is an indication to me that he takes too many bad shots.

[Wrangler98]

Well yeah, all Ovechkin does is goes to the outside and fire pucks from the tops of the circles. Not exactly high percentage shots in the NHL.

[Froggy]

still doesn't matter. same standards apply. even if it involved taking 200% more shots that malkin, every player would do it and every coach would encourage it if it meant 65 goals were coming.

That would only be true if teams played to win the Rocket Richard trophy. Almost every team is either playing to make the playoffs or win the cup. This is a team sport, remember?

I think it goes without saying that if any player shoots more, they will score more; but probably with less efficiency. Ovehkin's shot is much better than his low shooting percentage suggests, which is an indication to me that he takes too many bad shots.

lol... i hate this attitude that somehow winning individual awards means that you don't care about winning in the playoffs. I really think people started saying this when ovi won the hart over geno those 2 years in a row, and just never realized how stupid it sounds.

also, if you lead the league in shots by that large amount, then you are a dominant offensive player. if you call yourself a pens fan, and say that puck possession and shot differential are no big deal, then i don't know what to tell you. plus, the dude put up 65 goals. regardless of his shooting %, that is NUTS in today's NHL.