Shacks’ Take – Jan 30, 2012. Why Ovie needs to Grow Up.

It’s funny how different opinions can be on the same player.  In Vancouver, half the fan base loved Pavel Bure, half wanted him out of town well before his forced departure.  Alex Ovechkin reminds me of Pavel Bure. 

Exceptional raw talent, capable of scoring goals in bundles and lifting fans out of their seats, can win games all by themselves.  Unfortunately, at times they don’t inspire their teammates to be better nor do they seem to elevate their games when needed most. 

The biggest problem with these players is simply they never learned how to lead and what it takes to win, but they want both.  Players with extreme talent but little ability to inspire are great if they are not relied on for anything but scoring goals. 

In order for a team to win it all, they need a great leader.  In the NHL, a great leader is the first in the dressing room and the last out.  He’s the one that not only scores the big goal when it’s needed but prevents the big goal from being scored. 

There’s an old saying in sports that in order to win, your best players have to be your best players. Players like Ovie believe scoring goals makes them the best player on the ice.  In their minds they think, ‘if I score the most goals I am better than everyone else, what more do I need to do?’  Players like Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews know that’s just a part of the game. 

Both of these players have led their teams to the Stanley Cup because they play the game right.  Jonathan Toews is known as Captain Serious because he rarely smiles and he’s always looking for ways to improve his game.  When the captain of the team leads this way players follow.

Players almost inevitably pick up the traits of their best players and leaders.  If the best player is the first one on the ice and the last one off, works as hard in his own end as he does in the offensive end and works hard every shift, his teammates can’t help but follow their lead.  How can the third line winger or 5^th defenseman get away with short cuts if the best players aren’t taking them?  They can’t. 

What happens though if the leader of the team takes those short cuts?  What if he cheats offensively to try and score his hat-trick goal with a one-goal lead? What if he isn’t constantly working to improve his game, believing his statistics show his worth?  Will the third and fourth liners go the extra lengths required to push their team or will they take their cue from their leaders and take a few shortcuts?  One thing is certain; no one’s ever won a cup taking short cuts. 

Pavel Bure was great for the Canucks in his first few years because he came over as a wild-card.  There were no expectations and he was relied on only to score goals.  He was merely one part of the puzzle who contributed timely goals right up until the Canucks’ run to the cup final in ‘94.  As Bure’s desire to be a leader on the team increased, the Canucks’ success decreased.  Personally, I don’t think that’s a coincidence.  I think as his influence on the team increased, the team’s successes decreased. 

The play that showed me all I needed to know about exactly what kind of player Bure was came in the ’98 Olympics.  The score was Russia 6 – Finland 5 with just over a minute left and Bure already had four goals.  The Finnish net was empty and Bure received the puck just inside his own blue-line with a bit of space.  Bure looked up and just ahead of him was Sergei Federov breaking across the red-line to receive an easy 3o foot pass where he would have had a clear path to the clinching goal.  Instead, Pavel looked right past him to the empty net and fired it toward goal. 

Bure has the sublime skill to make that shot and he did, scoring his 5^th of the game and sealing the victory.  It disgusted me.  Would any of the great leaders in such a key moment have shot that puck from there or would they have passed the puck to the open man, getting the puck over the red-line and avoiding any chance of an icing and face-off back in their own end.  Bure probably still thinks he made the right play and I bet Ovechkin does too.

Bure’s career was cut short by injury so we will never know if glory was all he was ever after or if the years of frustration caused by falling short in the Stanley Cup playoffs would have pushed Bure to make the changes he needed to lead his team to victory.  Ovechkin came over under completely different circumstances. He was the #1 draft pick with huge expectations and thrust into the leadership role right away.  Unlike Bure, Ovechkin’s only experienced playoff disappointment. 

Ovie’s only 26 years old with plenty of hockey left in front of him.  There’s a chance the tumblers could click into place and he’ll figure out what it takes to win.  Likely, a few more years of disappointment will push him that way.  If he doesn’t get it, Washington Capitol fans better enjoy regular season success because Stanley Cup playoff success won’t happen.