O My Vechkin

By gallagher

The real Kid that the NHL should be pumping up lives in DC. I've seen Ovechkin play a few games on the ol' Center Ice package, but the Kid showed some stuff tonight. Everyone has been talking about his 'amazing' goal the other night against Phoenix, and while it was freakin' great, it was still lucky. I know it was lucky because the Kid had to watch it on the jumbo to see how it went in. He didn't need the jumbo tonight.

Speed through the neutral zone, cross up The Visor like Allen Iverson playing your wife on the driveway court and then flat out fire a rope into the top right corner. No need to check the jumbo to see how it went in, maybe just check to see where The Visor ended up when it was all over (hint: in the corner, picking up his jock).

Since in my dreams I'm a voter for the Rookie of the Year, Ovechkin has my dreamed vote.

If the Blues get lucky enough to draft a Kid like that this summer, it might just make this horrible year worth it. Well, not worth it, but at least someday we'll be able to look back at it and say, "it was worse than shitting a razor blade/tobasco sauce combo, but at least we got (name here)."

I hope that Kessel is the guy and that he can be like the physical, driven, hungry guy I saw wearing no. 8 for the Caps tonight, but if he's more like Sidney Crosby, I'm less excited. The more I see of that kid, the less impressed I am. Yes, he is the best player on his team right now, at age 18. But he seems like he's just... I don't know. He's just not IT. Yes, a great player. Yes, he'll score.

But he seems so... what? Pissy? Like an angry little girl. I don't get the impression that his teammates are all that interested in defending him. And that means a LOT in hockey. I guarantee that if someone ran Ovechkin tonight, that guy would get ganged by Caps. When Crosby gets pummelled over and over (and over), no one really jumps to his aid all that hard. And that sends a message to a fan like me.

Guys who are loved (or even just liked or respected) by their teammates will be defended at the cost of personal safety. And that occurs at every level. Even in my beer league hockey you see it. Someone runs our guy, he'll get crushed.

But no one does that for Crosby. That's why they went and got Eric Cairns to protect him, just like in "My Bodyguard". But what if Cairns doesn't like the kid? Then what happens?

Ovechkin is clearly liked by his teammates. He is leading the rookie race in goals and points. He is the best player on his team. Ovechkin is the Rookie of the Year.

I only hope that the Blues, who are nothing if not character, can draft a Kid like Ovechkin and don't end up with a kid like Crosby.