Alex Ovechkin Is Great at Hockey Again

Alex Ovechkin, a stooge for Vladimir Putin, is extremely good at hockey again.

After dipping from 53 to 50 to 33 goals and 81 to 79 to 69 points from 2014-15 to 2016-17, Ovechkin is on track to post 59 goals and 82 points in his age-32 season, gaudy numbers after a steady decline in recent years.

If you went on social media at all last season, it would have been easy to find people saying Ovechkin was done, that it was a mistake to lock him up for 13 years in 2008, that he was bad for DC. But based on what he's done this season, that was nothing more than a well-executed misinformation campaign that probably reached a lot of people on Facebook.

There was every reason to think that without careful, calculated meddling with the roster by general manager Brian MacLellan during the offseason that the Capitals would no longer have the same strength. The team shipped Marcus Johansson to New Jersey and parted ways with free agents Justin Williams, Karl Alzner, and Kevin Shattenkirk, potentially leaving an entity once loaded with dangerous weapons but not enough firepower to remain on top of the world barring a new approach to defeating an opponent.

With the Presidents' Trophy up for grabs again, the Capitals would need a highly skilled, perfectly placed Russian to keep pace with the other superpowers. And that's exactly what they have—nothing has interfered with Ovechkin through 25 games.

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One reason for Ovechkin's resurgence is hacking of any kind is no longer condoned. The NHL's crackdown on slashing has led to an increase in scoring throughout the league, and Ovechkin is one of the many players benefiting. There are seven players on pace for 100-point seasons and Ovechkin is one of three players on pace for 50 goals; the last time there were three 50-goal scorers in one season was 2009-10, which was when the Red Dawn remake was filmed.

Ovechkin recently has found chemistry with Nicklas Backstrom, one of the game's premier passers. It has resulted in Ovechkin scoring four goals in three games with Backstrom on his line, which proves if you want to make an impact, it helps to have access to a big-time server.

If there's one aspect of this run by Ovechkin that makes it worth independent examination, it's the volume of shots he's firing (he's averaging 4.68 shots per game after registering a career-low mark of 3.81 last season). It also helps that when Ovechkin pulls the trigger, he's doing so with deadly accuracy—his 15.4 shooting percentage is three points above his career average and would be the highest of his career.

The one trump card critics of Ovechkin will play is the third round of the playoffs, a territory he has been unable to invade. It's as if the second round of the playoffs is a prison from which Ovechkin can't escape, despite the fact he's done nothing to deserve to be there. The Capitals' failures in the playoffs have been nothing short of torture for fans and it's a crime that Ovechkin is blamed for it.

Ovechkin's career always seems to be judged on the playoffs but that's something that should be put in team context. When it comes time for the Russian to stand trial for the Hall of Fame, he will be found guilty of unleashing a level of pain on goaltenders that have stood in his way few before him can match, and the effect of the damage the Russian has done will likely be felt for years as others look to emulate the style that worked so well.

When Ovechkin eventually goes away for life after hockey, he will likely leave the game as one of seven players in history to score 700 goals and it's within the realm of possibility that he joins Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky as the only players to reach 800 goals. The playoff numbers will never be as gaudy, but his 46 goals and 90 points in 97 postseason games will always be the basis for a cold war between Ovechkin's detractors and supporters.

In this modern era, when defenses are at their most intricate, what Ovechkin is doing should not be possible. The only thing that will keep Ovechkin from being elected to the All-Star Game will be rampant and easily identifiable voter fraud.

But what about Ovechkin's support of Putin? It's something that should never be mentioned when discussing the left winger that has spent some time on the right wing during his career. The idea of someone living in America, in the nation's capital, being influenced or distracted by a Russian leader that only wants to use him as a puppet for his own personal gains on the other side of the world is flat-out silly. As if someone as wealthy as Ovechkin could ever fall prey to something like that.

Ovechkin may have looked extremely low energy last year, but more and more, people are saying nobody is better than him, let me tell you.

The bottom line with this Russian leader is no matter how we go about investigating what he's doing, it's clear he's destroying everything in his path with impunity.