Oates playing favortism?

[yave1964]

  Adam Oates has done a decent job of keeping the Capitals afloat, he has built a relationship with his star player Ovie and the great eight is the focal point of the offense. Ovie is expected to shoot from anywhere anytime and a love fest between him and his coach has ensued unlike any I can remember in quite a while.

  Then you have Martin Erat and Dmitry Orlov. Both have requested to be traded.

  Erat is whining about lack of playing time, lack of respect, misusing his talents, ect.... saying it all politically correct but whining none the less. Orlov is different, he has been with Hershey most of the season but the Capitals keep calling him up to sit in the press box and has yet to appear in an NHL game this year. The Reason? He has a clause in his contract stating if he does not have 30 days on the NHL roster by January 1st he can go home to mother Russia. He has 19 so far.

  I have heard mumbling from other Capitals about lack of ice time, unfair treatment of the superstar, Ovie supposedly is in Oates office more than in the locker room with his teammates.

  My opinion? So what.

  Ovie could score 60 this year. Erat, Orlov, whoever wants to whine about lack of playing time might score 60 over the rest of their career combined. This team without Ovechkin is a lottery team. With him happy and firing from everywhere they have a chance at making the playoffs. The coach knows which side of the bread is buttered and is playing favoritism to his superstar, so what. if the other players don't like it, go out and earn your time on the ice. This is not the usual, I admit, it is not something that a Ken Hitchcock for instance would do but like I said a happy Ovie scoring 60 versus him sleep walking through a 35 goal season is the difference between this club making the playoffs or sitting home in April. Good for Oates IMHO. The whiners just need to suck it up and play hard and earn their ice time and hang on to Ovechkins coat tails and let him carry them with Oates side by side with the clubs superstar. Hell, the two of them even palled around in Russia in the offseason. Relax Capitals players, Oates is the Chuck Tanner of the Hockey world and doing a good job, a great job of reclaiming the career of one of hockeys best and bringing the team to life. Just go with it.

 

[flyercanuck]

Until the Caps actually do something in the playoffs all Ovechkins goals don't mean squat, other than to him. I'm not a fan of playing with goal sucks. The guy is a great scorer for sure. But there's plenty of other guys I'd take on my team before him.

[yave1964]

Until the Caps actually do something in the playoffs all Ovechkins goals don't mean squat, other than to him. I'm not a fan of playing with goal sucks. The guy is a great scorer for sure. But there's plenty of other guys I'd take on my team before him.

I am not a big fan of that type either, but the team has so many glaring holes that getting ovie to quit pouting and play the way he has since Oates took over the team is about the only shot they have. I don't see them ever going anywhere come post season but that is more a fault of Mcphee and the way the team is built than Oates and Ovechkin.

  Yzerman was that way when he came up, under Demers and Murray he would score his 100 points plus and the team would get knocked out early. It was not until Scotty took over the club and Shanahan came over for Primeau that the team started playing team first last and only hockey and learned how to win. I agree with you, give me a player who plays a 200 foot game any day of the week, a warrior over a one dimensional player. But IMHO what Oates has managed to do is get Ovechkin playing his game to the highest level.