Last spring
Cole Beasley Jersey Womens , after another crushing postseason loss, Capitals coach Barry Trotz flew to Russia to meet with his best player.
Trotz spoke with Alex Ovechkin about his game and how it might be fine-tuned to prolong his career. They discussed the coming season and setting the tone in training camp for a team getting younger and undergoing a roster overhaul.
There were bumps in the road, but the end result has seen a reinvigorated Ovechkin playing an instrumental role in getting Washington within reach of its first Stanley Cup.
”You don’t want to be a one-trick pony in this league,” Trotz said. ”The league keeps changing on you.”
Ovechkin, whose Capitals faced the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in Game 1 of the final Monday night, scored 49 times this season after just 33 goals in 2016-17.
”The one thing that Alex does better than anybody, maybe in the history of the game, is score goals,” Trotz said. ”He has fantastic release. He plays a physical game for a pure-skill guy. There’s so many things that he’s done for the game. But we talked about finding other ways to be effective.”
The 32-year-old Ovechkin has done just that in pretty much every facet of his game.
”I try to do my best in the regular year, in the playoffs,” he said. ”Of course, in the playoffs, you don’t have tomorrow.”
Ovechkin has won the Richard Trophy seven times as the top goal scorer. He has 607 goals in 1,003 career regular-season games
Mike McGlinchey Jersey Youth , 19th on the career list. Another 49 next season would tie him with Brendan Shanahan for 13th.
”He has that ability to see past the block, see past the goalie,” Trotz said. ”Some of the better goal scorers in this league don’t see goalies, they just see empty spots. Guys that aren’t goal scorers, they see the goalie.”
Trotz sees a certain ease in Ovechkin that wasn’t there when the Capitals were having great regular seasons only to fall well short in the playoffs.
”He’s very comfortable within our group,” Trotz said. ”And he’s very comfortable pushing forward and not worrying about anything else.”
That comfort was on display Sunday when he was asked about the impact his first trip to the Stanley Cup final is having in Russia.
”Vladimir Putin called me and wished me luck,” Ovechkin said before pausing. ”No it’s (a) joke.”
Until now, Ovechkin was criticized for the Capitals’ postseason failures. Washington had never moved beyond the second round during his career until this spring surge, with ousters by the Pittsburgh Penguins the last two years especially difficult.
He had 46 goals in 97 career playoff games before adding 12 more on this current playoff run. But despite an experienced roster and plenty of blame to go around, the finger-pointing was often aimed at Ovechkin.
”Being the captain and the highest-paid player, I think he got a lot of unfair criticism,” said Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik, who has played with and against Ovechkin. ”That comes with the territory. I think he understands that, but it was really good to see him get by the second round.
”I don’t think he necessarily did that much different. I think we just played better as a team.”
The Latest on Thursday night’s NBA draft (all times local):
11 p.m.
The Atlantic Coast Conference
Blake Martinez Packers Jersey , which tied its record with nine NCAA Tournament teams earlier this year, had the most players selected in the first round of the NBA draft: six players.
Duke accounted for half the ACC’s total with Marvin Bagley III, Wendell Carter Jr. and Grayson Allen.
After setting a league record with eight NCAA teams, the Southeastern Conference ranked second again with five first-round picks – but only two from Kentucky. The SEC also tied its own mark with four lottery picks for the second time in four years for the league.
The Big Ten matched its four NCAA teams with four first-round draft picks.
The Big 12 fell far short of matching its seven NCAA berths with only three first-round picks. But the Pac 12, which had Arizona’s Deandre Ayton taken No. 1 overall, matched its three NCAA teams with three draft picks.
And Villanova, the defending national champ, helped the Big East top its two No. 1 seeds. Three Wildcats wound up drafted among the first 30 picks.
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9:10 p.m.
Michael Porter Jr. insists that he’s the best player in this draft.
Apparently, 13 teams disagreed.
Porter Jr., whose college career at Missouri was all of three games because of back surgery, fell to the very last lottery spot in Thursday night’s draft. The Denver Nuggets decided Porter Jr. was worth the gamble, taking him with the No. 14 selection.
Porter played just 53 minutes in college and cancelled a workout in recent days because of what was described as a hip issue.
The freefall is going to cost Porter some money. The top pick in this year’s draft, Deandre Ayton, is guaranteed to make at least $6.7 million. Porter Jr. is only guaranteed $2.4 million.
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9 p.m.
Before Deandre Ayton was selected by the Phoenix Suns with the first pick of the draft
Jamal Adams Jersey , he had signed a multimillion deal with Puma.
Ayton, one of three players in this class who made the choice to go with Puma over bigger brands such as Nike and Adidas, says it was an easy and personal decision for him.
He says, ”In the Bahamas, a lot of people cannot afford Nike or Adidas. Puma is the main brand and it’s very affordable, and growing up around that brand, I’m used to that brand.”
Ayton, who played at Arizona, is from Nassau, Bahamas. The inside of his draft tuxedo not only featured Bahama’s flag but also Nigeria and Jamaica ones. His mom is Jamaican and Bahamian. His dad is Nigerian.
Marvin Bagley III and Zhaire Smith also signed with Puma.
Ayton says he wants to ”start my own thing,” adding, ”I want to be dominant in my own brand, and I want to have my own signature one day to make it global.”
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7:50 p.m.
Luka Doncic won a championship on Tuesday. For Real Madrid. In Spain.
Two days later, he’s in the NBA.
The Slovenian teenager -considered one of the best prospects to come out of Europe- was picked No. 3 overall by the Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night
Roquan Smith Jersey , amid reports that he would quickly be traded to Dallas for the No. 5 pick and a future first-round selection.
This marks the seventh time in the last 13 drafts that at least one player has gone in the top five and will be entering the NBA directly from an international team. Andrea Bargnani went No. 1 overall in 2006; the last top-five to come from an international roster was Dragan Bender, who went No. 4 to Phoenix in 2016.
The international touch on this draft is already pronounced, with No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton being born in the Bahamas.
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7:40 p.m.
Only eight years after playing basketball for the first time, Deandre Ayton is the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.
The Phoenix Suns made the long-expected move official on Thursday night, taking the Arizona center with the top overall pick. He’s the first Arizona player to go No. 1 in the draft; Mike Bibby was No. 2 in 1998 and Derrick Williams was No. 2 in 2011.
It’s history for Ayton, and history for his homeland as well.
Ayton is just the second player born in the Bahamas to go No. 1, joining Mychal Thompson – the top pick in the 1978 draft by the Portland Trail Blazers.
The 7-foot-1 Ayton, who didn’t start playing basketball until he was 12, averaged 20.1 points and 11.6 rebounds per game in his lone college season. He’s the ninth consecutive one-and-done player to be taken No. 1 overall.
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7:25 p.m.
The players in New York who were headed to the Green Room were individually introduced on stage before the draft officially started. They had their names announced, special accolades and where they are from. Parents also got to walk out with their sons.
Members of the Jr. NBA lined up to clap and cheer, creating a walkway for the draft prospects as they went to sit down at their respective tables.
This is the first time NBA has started the draft with an elaborate introduction.
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6:40 p.m.
Avery Johnson is back at Barclays Center, home of some turbulent times.
Draft night will be a celebratory one for the Alabama coach, who is seated at the green room table of star Crimson Tide point guard Collin Sexton.
Johnson was the Nets‘ coach when they moved to Brooklyn in 2012 but was fired with a 14-14 record early in that first season shortly after they were blown out at home by Boston in a nationally televised Christmas Day game.
He eventually ended up at Alabama and coached here last season when the Crimson Tide played in the Barclays Center Classic. They finished their championship game los.