“Mama, put my guns in the ground. I can’t shoot them anymore.” – Bob Dylan, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Mama, what happened to the Washington Capitals’ “Young Guns?”
Three years ago, they glistened on the ice — Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin and Mike Green — a foursome of firepower on which “Rock the Red” was built.
“Bedrooms around the greater Washington area have been plastered with the Capitals’ ‘Young Guns’ poster for a year or so now,” the team’s website trumpeted.
It was a feared group of young stars that seemed destined to have another poster in their future — the “Young Guns” with the Stanley Cup.
Today, those weapons are broken, busted and bitter disappointments, the latest being the news that Green has been put on the long-term injured reserve list because of his continuing groin injury. He’s missed 32 of the team’s last 35 games.
Ovechkin is on a list as well. A Sports Illustrated poll of 161 NHL players listed Ovechkin as the second most overrated player in hockey.
Four years ago, Ovechkin led the league with 65 goals and 112 points and went on to win all four major individual awards — the first player in history to do so.
Today, Ovechkin is considered overrated by his peers and has struggled so much of late that his teammates found themselves defending his selection to the NHL All-Star Game.
It’s no surprise that Ovechkin’s teammate and Russian countryman, Semin, is on that most overrated list as well. Semin has come to symbolize the underachievement of the “Young Guns.” He was so pathetic in last year’s playoffs that his coach in Russia said he didn’t want him on their World Championships squad last year following the Capitals’ embarrassing playoff exit at the hands of Tampa Bay.
“We won’t invite Semin under any circumstances,” the coach said, according to Yahoo! Sports. “His play in the last Washington game was very weak.”
The steadiest of the foursome has been Nicklas Backstrom. But he now seems to have caught the new plague in sports — concussion-like symptoms.
Backstrom was hit in the back of the head with an elbow by Rene Bourque in a Jan. 3 game against Calgary and hasn’t returned.
Then there is Green, whose entire season may be in jeopardy with this nagging groin injury that he could have to deal with the rest of his career.
Green can’t seem to stay healthy. Green has played in just 20 of Washington’s 78 games since Feb. 8, 2011 — including last year’s nine postseason contests.
As Dylan once sang, “That long black cloud is comin’ down.”
Examiner columnist Thom Loverro is the co-host of “The Sports Fix” from noon to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on ESPN980 and espn980.com. Contact him at [email protected].
