Follow @james_tanner123 The Capitals did all they could do and they still lost.
It was a loss they shouldn't really feel bad about. The Tournament that leads to the Stanley Cup is fraught with randomness, and the best team hardly ever wins.
All the people ripping the Capitals for not being able to get it done apparently think that they lack something the Ottawa Senators (!) apparently have. Get real! If the Caps having never advanced beyond the second round (with this iteration of the team) isn't proven a total fluke by the appearance of the three rando teams currently still alive that aren't the Penguins, then there is just no hope for us ever having reasonable conversations about sports.
Everyone talks about how they can't keep the team together: that's is absurd. Sure, they will have a few changes, but Kuznetsov, Backstrom, Orlov, Carlson, Niskanen, Burakovsky, Johnson and Holtby is still among the best - if not the absolute best - core in the league.
Like, Oshie, Williams and Shattenkirk are good players and all, but they're not irreplaceable. They were luxuries that will be replaced by younger versions.
So that is one ridiculously overblown narrative.
The other is trading Ovechkin and/or criticizing him. The dumbest narrative I've ever heard in my life is that he didn't show up for game seven.
Apparently, these mouth breathing hockey fans didn't notice the goal he scored that was stopped by the one-square inch shaft of Marc-Andre Fleury's stick. This total fluke is a goal about .999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of the time.
If Ovechkin had more heart, cared more, was more of a big game player he could have prevented the flukiest save in the history of hockey. Ok then.
If not for that, the game would have been tied and we'd be talking about how Ovechkin came up big when it counted most.
So the Caps aren't trading Ovechkin. Why would they even want to? He IS their franchise. He's one of the probably ten best players to ever lace up the skates and is the all-time greatest goal scorer in the history of the NHL.
So people should calm down. Recognize the randomness of the Stanley Cup Playoffs and cut the Captials a break.
If blame has to go anywhere, how about to the disrespectful blubbering idiot who passively aggressively ripped his best player after the game?
His best player, who played through this:
Has anyone else seen this picture of Ovechkin's leg? (Note: it is pretty gross) https://t.co/S6o5COXYP9
— Todd Cordell (@ToddCordell) May 13, 2017
Ovechkin is an awesome player. He scored 33 goals and scored at a 31 goal place in the playoffs. He did this despite being terribly misused by his coach.
While everyone is ripping Ovechkin, for no reason, unjustly and stupidly, who is complaining about the coach?
Let's be very clear: the Capitals lost a series where they played the best and should have won. They were the better team in seven out of seven games. So the margin for losing was razor thin. Maybe just one tiny thing could have made the difference.
Something like, I don't know, not splitting up the best combo in the NHL ? Has anyone even come close to combing for more points than Ovechkin and Backstrom over the last decade? I really doubt it.
So for splitting up the best combo in hockey, for playing five or six forwards regularly more than Ovechkin and then for disrespecting the guy he makes his living off of in a post-game news conference, bald eagle and Dr. Robotnik look-alike Barry Trotz must be replaced.