He Said What?

Hey folks, this is a bonus Sunday blog to make up for lack of blogs from last week, enjoy!

I know I'm a little late to the party here but bear with me please. Okay so you may have heard of a little controversy going on in Washington DC, and no it has nothing to do with the White House, instead it has two super powers going at it, in a battle of who will blink first. Alexander Ovechkin and Bruce Boudreau, have added another instalment into their hockey relationship.

As time was winding down Tuesday night the Washington Capitals were down by a goal to the Anaheim Ducks, pulled their goalie and called a time out. While deciding who to send out coach Boudreau opted to send someone other than Ovechkin. Ovechkin was obviously not happy with the decision and had some choice words for his coach; now the words have been interpreted as; F****ing F***t, but no one is 100% sure what his exact words were, heck he could have been speaking Russian for all we know, only Ovechkin knows what he said, and he isn't saying. Boudreau justified his decision to go with another player in this situation; “Like I’ve said in the past, 99.9 percent of the time Alex is the first guy I even think of. If you look at all my notes, even for that game, when I’ve drawn up a play quite frankly, he’s the one that’s on it. But it’s a different story sometimes at the time it’s happening, and I just felt that other line was playing so good offensively." You know something is seriously wrong when the most offensively talented player is left on the bench in a game when  you need 1 goal to tie.
Now its no secret that Ovechkin has not been playing well for about the last season's worth of games and has gotten off to a slow start, a very slow start, not the type of start expected the No.2 player in the world. Sure Ovechkin has 10 points in 10 games but it's just not like Ovechkin to only have 5 goals. So whats up with Ovechkin and his early season slump, here's a thought maybe its the coach!
See I told you to bear with me, now the good stuff starts; I have a little theory and I'm going to share with you guys, I'm even sure some of you I know have the same theory so lets see how this goes.
 Bruce Boudreau and Alexander Ovechkin don't like each other very much. Boudreau changed Ovechkin's game about a year and a half ago to make it more 2 dimensional so Ovechkin would help his team out on defence and not be as selfish with the puck, since then there has been lots of speculation that the 2 aren't a real happy couple. But this is one fight that Boudreau doesn't want to pick, why, because this is Ovechkin's team like it or not, he is the face of the franchise and the Capitals will/should do anything possible to make Ovechkin happy. Boudreau has a few strikes against him already; He's failed to deliver a Stanley Cup to Washington despite all the talent at his disposal, and that puts Boudreau's butt firmly on the hot seat this season. So far this season Boudreau isn't helping himself with the Ovechkin battle as he "called" Ovechkin out after a game and made it seem like Ovechkin was the scapegoat. Ovechkin was clearly not impressed with his coaches comments and wanted to make it clear he wasn't going to talk about; “I think everybody can be better,” Ovechkin said after Thursday’s practice. "I think it has to be between me and him and I don’t want to comment on it.” Their tense relationship was vamped up again when the Boudreau decided to "bench" or "sit" Ovechkin when the team needed a goal. As I've already said Ovechkin was not too pleased with his coaches decision not to play him!
"Well, I was (ticked) off," Ovechkin said Wednesday. "Of course I want to be in that situation on the ice, and you know it doesn't matter who I said it (to) and what I said. It looked funny on TV.
"It's right now a big story. It's just a little bit frustrating because I'm a leader on the team and I want to be on that kind of responsibility." The last time Ovechkin had been on the bench in that situation was when he was young; "When I was little kid," he said with a laugh. "So I'm right now back to young age again. So thanks, Bruce."

No question it took balls for Boudreau to bench his star player at such a crucial moment, but his hunch worked so that's not what my issue is, I give full props to coach for doing that! Now I don't think this is a one off situation. I think we will be seeing a lot more turbulence between these two characters. I just think it shows there is something not right between Boudreau and Ovechkin and it's starting to bubble to the surface. But this is one battle that Bruce Boudreau will not win no matter what, remember the coach is always the first one to go. Since the first season Boudreau and Ovechkin started working together I've noticed a wee bit of tension between the two parties, both want full rule of the Washington Capitals, and right now I'd say that Ovechkin has that rule; his teammates respect his opinion more than the coaches, but with or without Boudreau it is still the Washington Capitals team that the fans love to watch, but without Ovechkin, they are NOTHING. Ovechkin is where the major source of money is (jerseys, memoribilia) and he is the source for a ton of the fans coming to the rink. One of the reasons I'm a Capitals fan is because they Ovechkin, I personally could care less about Boudreau.

You may think I'm crazy or out in left field, but I'm positive there is something happening between Bruce Boudreau and Alexander Ovechkin, and they can't stand each other! If this trend of the two feuding continues expect a coaching change in the near future. Now it's pretty much do or die for the Capitals this season, so there likely won't be a coaching change till after the season. But I suspect we will see and hear of more instances where Boudreau and Ovechkin have butted heads. Maybe I`m wrong but I have a hunch and I go with my gut!

Hope you enjoyed my bonus Sunday blog, There will likely be a blog out on Monday!