Comments on: Ovechkin on benching: “I was pissed off”

By: danphipps01

danphipps01 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 23:55:55 +0000

Sometimes being polite and supportive and “thinking positive” just urges an already-complacent player further into complacence. Sometimes to get a player going you have to push them. There are plenty of talented guys who lapse into laziness too easily (Jason Spezza, Dany Heatley, Rick Nash) and these guys tend only to respond to someone getting inside their comfort zone and prodding them. There’s a time and place for sticking with a struggling guy, but that’s when he’s genuinely struggling through problems interfering with his play and in need of a guy to have his back. Ovi… strikes me more as just not wanting to do the hard stuff that he used to do without hesitation. It’s not that he’s giving it his all and just not scoring, like Zetterberg is right now – it’s that he’s NOT giving his all, and needs to start doing so. Trying to pump his tires and be the nice guy won’t make him any more likely to step up his game. Being mad and wanting to win back his glory, though, just might be the ticket to sixty-goal Ovi’s return.

By: 1943mrmojorisin1971

1943mrmojorisin1971 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:50:21 +0000

I’ve never coached hockey but I know as a player this kind of thing would only be de-motivational for me. You can always give him a vote of confidence by sticking with him, sit him down in your office and lay out your expectations, or anything more constructive than benching him at the most crucial point in the game

By: danphipps01

danphipps01 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 21:39:24 +0000

How would you send him a message, then? It’s easy to criticize, but how would you solve his problems?

By: danphipps01

danphipps01 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:23:05 +0000

Ovi’s somewhat like several other Russian stars I can think of. Prospects like Filatov and Kabanov, guys who actually got a few years to prove themselves and failed like Zherdev or Yashin, and highly criticized mainstays like Semin – the common theme is that all of them seem to have problems accepting their role as one player on a team full of them. They all seem to carry themselves like superstars who can win on their own and who feel their talent gives them liscence not to work as hard as rest of their teammates. Ovi’s a bit different – he’s a phenomenally hard worker, or at least he has been, and it shows – I mean, the guy’s got the most goals since the lockout, does he not? He’s absolutely spectacular, or he was until last season and the start of this one. But now he seems to have stopped playing the physical game and tends to, in the words of another poster here, “sit back and watch the play” until he feels he can jump in and own the highlight reel with a slick break-in goal. The problem is, basically, that he doesn’t seem to work with the team as much as he could be. It was A) less of a problem when he was scoring all the time and B) a problem that couldn’t be directly attended to when they were completely reliant on his scoring, but now that Boudreau’s got all the other assets on the ice producing every game, he feels he can criticize Ovechkin’s sometimes-lazy play and try to give him the right kick in the pants so he’ll start playing like 65-goal Ovi again. Problem is, Ovi seems to take criticism as well as any Russian star – he completely ignores it, blames the coach and misses the point. Time will tell who will win this battle of wills, but if the Caps are going to go all the way, it’s NOT Boudreau who needs to back down – Boudreau’s an extremely insightful guy and his gut instincts are usually right. Remember how everyone criticized his initial decisions about Vokoun? Look how THAT turned out. The guy can tell who’s producing and who has problems and Ovi needs to recognize that HE DOES HAVE PROBLEMS. He isn’t playing like he used to and the reasons for that are all things he can change – his physical play, for starters. Boudreau’s in the right here. Ovi needs to step it up. Yeah, he’s scored a few lately, but the numbers don’t tell the whole story. He’s not the electrifying on-ice presence the entire enemy team has to be worried about anymore. If they want to win, he needs to return to form first.

By: 1943mrmojorisin1971

1943mrmojorisin1971 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 19:15:03 +0000

It’s easy to say Ovie should just play better, but I don’t think anyone would argue he’s still one of their top 6 players even in a slump. Any coach in their right mind would have him out there with 1 min to play down by a goal. If Bruce wants to send him a message this is a stupid way to do it and I don’t blame Ovie for being pissed

By: abrienza428

abrienza428 — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:18:17 +0000

This might all just blow over, but if Ovechkin did call him that, it’s not a good thing.
What captain behaves like that? He has every right to be mad, but he’s not handling it like a leader. Granted, it’ll be judged based on how he performs in the next few games, but he should simply say something to the effect of: “I would have liked to be out there. I’ll need to step up my game if I want to be next time.”