It is not typical for an NHL defenseman — or any athlete, for that matter — to drastically improve at the age of 30. While defensemen tend to peak later and play at a level that more closely resembles their prime deeper into their 30s than other NHL skaters, the fourth decade of a hockey […]
Last season was among the zaniest in NHL history. An expansion team came within three games of winning the Stanley Cup. A New Jersey Devil won the Hart Trophy as the league’s MVP. The Washington Capitals didn’t lose to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round of the playoffs — and went on to lift […]
Alexander Ovechkin is many things. He’s the winner of three league MVPs. He’s the owner of seven Rocket Richard trophies for most goals scored in a season. And he’s among the the most prolific scorers in NHL history, at 19th in all-time goals. But he’s not, despite what a lot of folks seem to believe, […]
Alexander Ovechkin’s Capitals have never managed to make it past the second round of the NHL playoffs. Sidney Crosby is largely to blame. The playoff futility of the Ovechkin-era Capitals has reached almost comic proportions as the team has made it nearly an annual tradition to squander a great regular season with a first- or […]
Before the playoffs began, the citizens of Washington, D.C., probably thought the perpetually tantalizing Capitals had a real chance of winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history. The Caps had just secured their third Presidents’ Trophy in eight years, and they were the odds-on favorites to win the Stanley Cup. On […]