Takin' a T/O with BT: Alexander Ovechkin's Own Worst Enemy and Round Two Picks

We'll get to the fact that I've thoroughly embarrassed myself in the first round of the playoffs in a minute.

Although the Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks played a great Game Seven that was exciting until the last buzzer (although it didn't go to triple OT like I had hoped), I was glued to the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals' Game Seven much more intently.

It could have been the fact that I was running on 39 hours straight of being awake by the time the Flames/Sharks game came on, but needless to say, I saw more of the Flyers and Caps.

Throughout that series, I noticed something. Despite the veteran presence on each squad, all of the youngsters showed up in this series when it mattered most.

Nicklas Backstrom came on extremely strong, scoring in each of the final four games of the series, Jeff Carter and Mike Richards continued to cement their status as the Flyers' future (granted, that's if Carter isn't offered a contract by another team as an RFA this season), and Alexander Ovechkin, although he seemed to lose a step for a few games, showed up when it mattered. 

But for everything he does so well, is Alexander Ovechkin his own worst enemy?

I'm not saying this as a jaded Leafs fan—okay, I could be, but as far as you know I'm not—and I'm not saying this as someone who wants to see his celebrations toned down, claiming that he'll get hurt.

In actuality, I just don't want to get shown up.

So why is Alexander Ovechkin his own (and the Capitals) worst enemy?

It's pretty straightforward actually. 

Shift length.

Now sometimes shifts go on too long because you can't get out of the zone, and going to the bench will leave your team at a disadvantage at a pivotal moment. If that happens, you'll find players going off at the first opportunity that presents itself.

Not Alexander Ovechkin. 

Throughout the entire series, Ovechkin could be seen dragging on his shifts, staying on the ice as long as possible because, let's face it, he's so talented, that even he thinks the more he's on the ice, the better chance the Caps have of winning.

If it was any other player, he'd be benched—no coach would tolerate that. But because he's Alexander the Great, there's probably a little leeway, as to an extent Ovie is right—when he's on the ice, good things happen.

But is a tired Ovechkin really going to help the Caps late in the game and in overtime when they need him at his best?

Think about this: Throughout the first round series against the Flyers, Alex averaged 24 minutes of ice time, good for second on the team to Mike Green who averages nearly 27 minutes a game (26:58).

In that same light, Ovechkin averages the tenth-most shift on his team—eight fewer than team leader Tom Poti (who averages 24:00 minutes and 30 shifts a game), making Ovechkin the only player on his team to average more ice time, than shifts per game (24:03/22.1).

Not one player on the opposing Philadelphia Flyers had that problem, nor did any player on any other playoff-bound team. Every other player's ice time was below the amount of their average shifts per game in the playoffs. That's a big trend that Ovechkin is going against.

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