My heart sank as a hockey fan: I arrived for media day at the Washington Capitals' training camp and was faced with another NHL lockout.
This time, it wasn't Gary Bettman and the owners sacrificing a season of hockey and the fans' goodwill for the sake of some heavier piggy banks; rather, the doors to the Capitals' offices were locked, with no one around to open them up.
I was soon joined on the sidewalk of the Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, VA by someone just as eager to find a way inside the building: a 6-foot-2 Russian kid who has managed to score 198 points in his first 163 National Hockey League games.
"Locked?" asked a perplexed Alexander Ovechkin, as he pushed on the non-revolving revolving door.
A couple of his Capitals teammates walked up from the parking lot and greeted him, exchanging "how's-yer-summer?" queries and mercilessly ribbing Ovechkin about his rock-star length hair. (The Canadian accent does a wonderful thing for the word "barber.")
I began walking down to an alternative entrance as Ovechkin tried to push through the doors again. I was confident he'd find a way in: with the right motivation, I'm pretty sure this kid can do anything he damn well wants to do.
If motivation is a problem for Ovechkin this season, he may want to consider a career change. More than anyone else in the organization — from Ted Leonsis to Coach Glen Hanlon to the zamboni driver — Ovechkin has anticipated this season as the one in which the rebuilding is complete, the expectations are raised and an appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs are expected rather than contemplated.
"Our ownership spent some money to get good players, and our young guys have experience," Ovechkin said later during the media scrum on the first official day of camp.
What makes this offseason a good one for General Manager George McPhee and the Capitals is that they didn't just spend money — they spent smart money.
Besides juicing a moribund shootout squad for the Capitals with his uncanny ability in the overtime sideshow, forward Viktor Kozlov gives a Russian veteran in the locker room for Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin to interact with. "He's a very smart player, tough. He loves hockey. He's sick about hockey," said Ovechkin.
Besides being a top-line forward coming off successful seasons with the New York Rangers, Michael Nylander is a Swedish center on a team whose next young star player just happens to be a Swedish center.
That player is Nicklas Backstrom: a soft-spoken rookie who could fit in a number of places in this line-up. As of the first day of camp, however, he didn't fit the fashion trends of the Capitals locker room. Everyone else looked like they had either just stepped out of an H&M or American Eagle catalogue, sporting European menswear or jeans, a ball cap and an ironic t-shirt.
Backstrom strolled into camp wearing shorts.
Freshmen...
There is a first-day-of-school vibe that's unmistakable about media day, and not just because the NHL season nearly mirrors that of a high-school year. Students greet each other after long summers, sometimes spent traveling the world. They see their favorite teachers again and other faculty. They spend most of the day filling out forms, taking physicals, and getting their equipment in order. The veterans immediately start to evaluate the underclassmen to see who belongs in their clique. (For the Capitals, one of those veterans is a 37-year-old goalie. In hockey, he's the most senior of seniors; in high school, he probably would have been fingered for a NARC by now.)
Most of all, there's the class clown.
Ovechkin's turn in the media scrum provided his trademarked mix of broken (though much improved) English and out-of-nowhere punch lines. Like, for example, when one reporter noted that some Capitals had been giving Ovechkin grief about his hair.
"It's my style," he said, waiting a few beats before grinning. "Gangster style."
Later, as I walked out of the practice facility, Ovechkin and a Capitals media relations assistant were walking back in. The star winger spotted an "Ovechkin 8" t-shirt in the window of the gift shop and pointed his stick at it.
"Wait," Ovechkin deadpanned to whatever audience he was speaking to, "who's that guy?"
Millions of hockey fans already know his name.
It's time Lord Stanley started getting a little more familiar with him, as well...
Greg Wyshynski is also a weekly columnist for SportsFan Magazine. His columns appear every Saturday on Sports Central. You can e-mail Greg at [email protected].
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