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Will This Be Alex Ovechkin's Final Season? | NHL on TNT · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Okay Ov forty years old going into your twenty first
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: season goal scoring champion. What keeps your fire burning?
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Still love the game, you know, still happy to come
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: to the rink, enjoy it, and yeah, still have my momentivation,
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: still have power. So we'll see.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: So I got to ask you, it's the last year
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: on your contract. What is going to go into the
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: decision whether you're gonna sign another deal or retire.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: I don't know. Seasons just started, so we'll see how
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: it goes, and uh, obviously we'll make a decision later.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: So you had a lot of new faces on the
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: team last year. Twenty of the twenty three players are
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: back this year. How much does that help?
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a lot. Obviously we know which ota well.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Especially we have a great season last year. But you know,
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna say we make the first round, but we'll
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: step down in a second. So we're just going to
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: try to do our best and be better this year. Okay,
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: let's have a little fun. Wayne is in studio tonight.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: You're at eight ninety seven, three goals to nine hundred.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: I think he told you he was going to buy
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: you a car if you got to nine hundred.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: I know you're a car guy. What are you thinking.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: I'll be honest you, I don't remember that. I'm too
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: old for that stuff. So uh yeah, we'll see you know,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: game by game. So yeah, just enjoyed. Thanks out, Yeah,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: thank you man, see you guys.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: I wish we had a camera on Wayne's face when
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: that was put out there that you were buying him
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: a car.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Cars now brets.
• 1:31
  Speaker 4: That was news to me.
• 1:33
  Speaker 5: It's one thing, you broke my record. Now he wants
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: my bank.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: I want a car too.
• 1:39
  Speaker 5: My goodness.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: He talked about you know, not knowing, Uh, if this
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: is the end, if this is the last season, how
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: many times did you go back and forth?
• 1:48
  Speaker 5: You know, it's one of those things when you go
• 1:50
  Speaker 5: into this season, people are going to ask you about it,
• 1:53
  Speaker 5: and when you play as well as he did last year,
• 1:56
  Speaker 5: there's fewer questions. You know, he doesn't get asked about
• 1:59
  Speaker 5: it all the time. But in my particular case, it
• 2:02
  Speaker 5: was around January February that final year that I started feeling, like,
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: you know what, my back.
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: Was hurting me.
• 2:08
  Speaker 5: It was physically tougher and tougher for me to practice,
• 2:12
  Speaker 5: and I hated not practicing with the guys and just
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: playing games. So it was around January. I said to
• 2:18
  Speaker 5: my wife, I said, you know, this is going to
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: be my last year, but I don't want to do
• 2:21
  Speaker 5: a tour. I don't want anybody to know. I just
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: wanted to kind of end and so you kind of
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: you know yourself as an athlete when it's time to
• 2:29
  Speaker 5: maybe move on. And the greatest compliment that I got
• 2:33
  Speaker 5: at the end of my careers when people came up
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: to me and said, you know, you could have played
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: one more year, and that's when you know you went
• 2:38
  Speaker 5: out at the right time.
• 2:39
  Speaker 6: Then your dad want to talk you out of it.
• 2:41
  Speaker 5: Oh yeah, my dad was. He was disappointed.
• 2:45
  Speaker 6: Let's put it that way.
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: I figured I went to my very first hockey game.
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: My dad drove me. I thought my last game in
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: New York would be so cool. I would drive my
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: dad to the garden. My wife said to me after
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: the game, how was the ride? I said, Oh, my gosh,
• 2:57
  Speaker 5: it was the worst riding in my life. The whole
• 3:00
  Speaker 5: way there, he kept hitting me on the leg saying,
• 3:02
  Speaker 5: you know, you can play one more year. I said, no,
• 3:05
  Speaker 5: I'm done something.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: He's three away from nine hundred. He was second in
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: the NHL and goals per game last year. Is there
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: any chance that he sticks around chases a thousand?
• 3:17
  Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean it's gonna come down to what he wants.
• 3:21
  Speaker 7: And listen, that's a luxury. Very few players get the
• 3:25
  Speaker 7: opportunity to decide when it's time right. A lot of
• 3:28
  Speaker 7: times it's injuries or you're not getting an opportunity. But
• 3:32
  Speaker 7: because the way he plays the game, he can continue
• 3:35
  Speaker 7: as long as he wants to. Because his game is
• 3:38
  Speaker 7: about power and he's still as strong as he was
• 3:41
  Speaker 7: ten years ago. And what I like about his game too,
• 3:45
  Speaker 7: I feel like he's made some adjustments over the last
• 3:47
  Speaker 7: few years in terms of where he shows up. You know,
• 3:51
  Speaker 7: he's not always scoring from his office and you start
• 3:54
  Speaker 7: to see that a few years ago where he's I
• 3:56
  Speaker 7: probably you know, thought to himself, if I'm going to
• 3:59
  Speaker 7: continue this pace, I need to adjust my game a
• 4:02
  Speaker 7: little bit, surprise teams a little bit. So it's just
• 4:06
  Speaker 7: great to see. You know, remember talking about this last year,
• 4:10
  Speaker 7: he didn't break the record just by stumbling in was
• 4:14
  Speaker 7: he was a force last year. So I expect him
• 4:17
  Speaker 7: to be almost as good this year. Maybe not forty goals,
• 4:20
  Speaker 7: but he's going to be good.
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: Even crazier that he broke his leg last year. Heels
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: like Wolverine comes back. I also think stylistically, more power
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: plays in today's NHL, so we know where his house is,
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: and I imagine when he does retire, they're going to
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: put like they put the ninety nine behind the net,
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: They're going to put that eight on the on the
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: weak side side there at the top of the circle.
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: But also I feel like Dylan Strolm has really embraced
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: playing with him as well as this patra is where
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: they don't mind going to get the puck for him
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: and he can just hide in the weeds and feed
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: off of those one timers. So I feel like stylistically,
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: his linemates are okay with him, maybe not moving around
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: quite like he once did. So even though he is
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: playing a little bit at a slower pace, it's not
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: affecting his goal scoring are because his teammates and his
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: linemates have bought and he gets a pick of spots.
• 5:03
  Speaker 6: He's not as physical, so he doesn't run guys over
• 5:06
  Speaker 6: all the time to recover. But also there's more empty
• 5:08
  Speaker 6: needed opportunities too, because the Caps will have a pretty
• 5:10
  Speaker 6: good team yes year. Also, so There'll be times late
• 5:13
  Speaker 6: in the hockey game and the other team pulls the
• 5:15
  Speaker 6: goalie and you know, I don't even think Spencer.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Carver has a tap number eight.
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: He's got his leg over the book prints already right
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: and jumping that goalie leaves.
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: If I was Alex, I'd be I'd be jumping over Tom.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Why not?
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: Why not? He keeps catching them in. You mentioned the
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: fact that he keeps scoring even at this age, and
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: he's doing it for a team that is winning right now,
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: first in the East in the regular season,