NHL Player Profiles for the 2011-2012 regular season: Washington Capitals Alex Ovechkin
Washington Capitals have gotten off to a much better than expected start to the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season by having won all of their matchups thus far to lead the league with the highest number of point.
It might not be anything new for Washington, a team which has always seemed to be performing well during their past few regular season, that is until the playoffs come into the season.
After ending the previous 2010-2011 regular season as the top team of the Eastern Conference, Washington was eliminated early into the series and failed to get anywhere near the Stanley Cup finals, which was very disappointing seeing the season they had.
Drafted as the number-one overall draft pick during round-one of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by Washington Capitals, Ovechkin has established himself as the face of the franchise and continues to lead them to success.
The Russian sensation has performed outstandingly since his draft but lacking a Stanley Cup championship is certainly hurting his reputation as one of the best players in the league.
In his first season with Washington, Ovechkin scored impressively, 106 points (52 goals, 54 assists) in 81 games played and since then, he has been averaging 100 plus points a season except for a few seasons which saw 80 and above.
Everybody in the league and fans throughout the world know that Ovechkin has all the characteristics of a leader that can easily guide his team to the Stanley Cup championships but at the point, being unable to do so has undermined his abilities as a player.
“You can't just stand and say to yourself, 'OK, right now I'm the best. That's it. No more working.' If you're a good player you have to be working harder and harder. This is not just my goal, it's my team goal. We can improve more and we can probably be
even better than last year. My dream is to be the best”, Ovechkin was noted saying earlier in 2008.
Impressive as he is, the 26-year-old still has a long road ahead of him and it is not hard saying that he will eventually achieve his goal of winning the most coveted prize in the hockey world since he is quoted in many places to already be the best there
is in the sport.
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