Bruce Boudreau was more than a bit bummed out about how his team played in losing to Winnipeg, but one guy he didn’t want to discuss was Alex Ovechkin. As Stephen Whyno of The Washington Times shares, Boudreau was just a bit cranky about being asked about his team’s best player.
“You know what, I don’t want to talk about Alex tonight. Everywhere we go, people ask me the same question about Alex,” the coach said. “I just don’t feel like talking about him tonight.”
Well pardon us, coach.
After all, asking questions about the team’s best player who hasn’t scored a point in three games and seems to be sulking through the early part of the season might seem like a really important thing to discuss. Yes, you have to talk about him every day, but that’s part of the job.
Getting Ovechkin right should be a priority for the Caps. While they started the season out hot and Ovechkin is the team’s top goal-scorer, he’s not the dominant offensive force and game changer that we got used to watching. He’s arguably one of the best in the game and when he’s off, people are going to ask questions.
Maybe Boudreau was just saving his strength for when the Caps hit Toronto and the deluge of Ovechkin questions he’ll be sure to get there, but being the guy in charge means having to do things you don’t like sometimes. You know, like back checking.