Believe it or not, the Capitals once had a winning record when Alex Ovechkin wasn’t in the lineup. It’s not that they were a really good team without him, it’s just that they managed to sweat out some victories despite not having the Great 8 on the left wing.
This season, the Caps are 0-6 without Ovi, as he’s missed two games with a lower body injury – including Tuesday’s 5-3 loss to the Rangers – and four games due to the death of his father.
The previous three game set they lost weren’t as consequential, as they came at the end of the 2021-22 season when they were clearly being cautious with him before the playoffs. Those losses came against the Rangers and two against the Islanders.
But that means, previous to this losing streak, the Capitals were 23-17-4, which also included some late-season losses that didn’t matter in the standings.
The Caps once went 7-1 in games without Ovi, back in the 2009-2010 season.
While there are many reasons this season has gone off the rails, the loss of Ovechkin for six games is hardly the difference. Perhaps he would’ve scored a couple of goals in those games, and perhaps they would’ve even won one of them.
But with Ovi turning 38 years old at the beginning of next season, he’s bound to start missing more games, and how the Caps adjust in these games could play a bigger role in their chase for the playoffs toward the end of his contract (which is three more years).
As exciting as it will be to watch the Great Chase, as Ovi tries to beat Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal record, the Caps are going to need get more used to playing without Ovi every night.
