Interesting comments on the Capitals by the NBC/VERSUS crew during a conference call with NHL reporters this afternoon. All credit to Washington Examiner columnist Jim Williams, who asked Mike “Doc” Emrick, Mike Milbury, Eddie Olczyk and Pierre McGuire about the Caps and what some see as a make or break season.
Knowing what a decent segment of the fanbase thinks of the usually brash, occasionally outlandish, sometimes boorish yet once-in-a-blue-moon entertaining Milbury – you should have heard him on the topic of head shots during the conference call – I hesitate to publish his full quotes. Some Caps fans simply don’t want to hear what Milbury has to say on any topic anymore. But I actually thought they offered some solid insight without the bombast, so here you go. When his NBC colleagues spoke about the pressure on the coaching staff in Washington this season, Milbury went a step further.
“I think there’s going to be a couple of bull’s eyes, in my opinion. And yeah Bruce [Boudreau] is certainly going to have scrutiny on what he does,” Milbury said. “But it’s time for Alex Ovechkin, one of the great players in the game and one of the great hard workers in the game, to work with the intelligence that’s necessary to be effective, to play within the system that the coaches are outlining. Yes, it’ll be a challenge for Bruce to get him there. But I think they put all these other pieces in place. It’s primed to go in the right direction.”
He’s referring, of course, to the summer signings of Joel Ward, Jeff Halpern, Roman Hamrlik and Tomas Vokoun and the trade for Troy Brouwer. Since I have yet to encounter a single teammate – former or current – single out Ovechkin’s work ethic or passion for the game on or off the record, this seems like the right tone to me. It speaks to something a “long-time NHLer” told CBC’s Elliotte Friedman last spring – until Ovechkin learns to play off his teammates better the Caps’ struggle to win a title will always be harder than it needs to be.
Read No. 18 in Friedman’s 30 Thoughts column the week after Washington was eliminated by the Tampa Bay Lightning last spring. Actually, read Nos. 15, 16 and 17, too. Interesting items in the first place, but especially with the knowledge of what general manager George McPhee did to upgrade his team. More from Milbury – again speaking of passion and similar buzzwords we throw at athletes who fail in some way, but really about how to channel the desire that’s already ingrained. Alex Ovechkin doesn’t want to lose. He hates it, loathes it. It embarrasses and frustrates him. But that’s not the same as knowing how to use your talents to put your team in the best possible position to win at the highest level of hockey.
“At his core a player like Ovechkin and a sidekick, Semin, has to play with passion, but with intelligence, within the system,” Milbury said. “And I think that’s easier to do for Ovechkin than Semin, who needs to get his compete level up on every single night. But those two guys have got to bring it to the party if they want to win a ring.”
Fair?
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