Suspendable? I Think So

Oh Ovechkin, you're making it too easy for the haters.



Here's my piece:
Ovie is ridiculously talented. He's one of the best, no doubt about that but there is a lack of discipline and that lack of discipline gets him into trouble. This probably comes down to who his 'people' are.

I hate, as you know, to compare Ovechkin and Crosby but sometimes there's no way around it. Crosby from the very beginning, his parents, his coaches, mentors, etc all new what he would become, all knew what he would mean to future generations of hockey fans, and in a sport where the icon is a man who's as exciting as white wonder bread, they knew what he had to become, or at least appear to be that way.

Crosby is mature, reserved, articulate, and very, very guarded, even in his revealing interviews he's kind of, sort of, really boring. Its clear that Ovechkin recieved no such coaching, he's a superstar and he knows it and he wants you to know it. Personally I don't think there's anything wrong with a little arrogance in sports, he's not working along side me in Starbucks bragging how he can make the most complicated beverages in the least amount of time, he's an athlete for god's sake! He should be engaging and exciting, after all the new NHL is more about the sizzle than the steak, Ovechkin is both but he's got a lot of sizzle! And if you have a lot of sizzle you need people to control the sizzle or else you get the title of a 'dirty player'.

In the video you see he's remorseful but remorse is useless when it shouldn't have happened at all. Campbell fractured his clavicle and a rib (OUCH!) and you can see from the different angles at Ovie actually pushes Campbell into the boards, not looking so good from a PR angle. What I really want to know is who is behind Ovechkin? Who is there when he steps out of the dressing room to say 'that was not cool dude' or someone to explain to him how he appears to the fans and to other players. Ovechkin is a physical player but there is a way to be physical (Iginla) and a way not to be (Tootoo) he needs to understand this, are there people who are making him understand this?

It certainly doesn't appear that way.

I like Ovechkin, I like his style of play (except for the questionable hits), and I like his personality but he needs good PR people around him, and coaches and teammates who will tell him what's what, I honestly think this will make all the difference but until that happens we'll have a lot more Brian Campbell's.

Oh and to put the hit into context, Campbell isn't some wimpy player, he's had some big hits; his hit on RJ Umberger still haunts my dream, Umberger doesn't even know who he is after this hit:


DAMN.