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Ovechkin sees limited ice time again in Game 7

ovechkintrippedgetty

Perhaps it’s just the nature of being the NHL’s highest-paid player,* but Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin gets noticed even when he’s not on the ice.

Much like most of this series, his frequent absence was rather glaring. Ovechkin received 16:25 minutes of ice time of the Capitals’ 2-1 overtime win in Game 7 against the Boston Bruins. To give you an idea of where that ranks, here are the Capitals who received more time on ice during the contest:

Mike Green: 24:55 time on ice
Roman Hamrlik: 24:52 TOI
Karl Alzner: 24:41 TOI
John Carlson: 22:29 TOI
Brooks Laich: 20:37 TOI
Troy Brouwer: 19:13 TOI
Dennis Wideman: 17:56 TOI
Marcus Johansson: 17:45 TOI
Nicklas Backstrom: 17:35 TOI
Jay Beagle: 16:39 TOI

Seeing defensemen get more ice time is perfectly reasonable, even if Ovechkin has had times where he was the overall team leader in that category, too. Yet Ovechkin being ranked sixth among forwards in ice time is a real eye-opener.

For some, the Capitals’ results are impressive enough that Dale Hunter will be lauded for courageously parking his star on the bench (particularly when Washington was in the lead). Yet with three more rounds to win, the obvious question is: can the Capitals go deep with this strategy?

Ovechkin has said all the right things - more or less - but one wonders how far Washington can really go without their superstar getting big minutes.

* - At least from a salary cap hit perspective.