Ovechkin trade? What boyscouts say...

If you ever heard about Victor Fedorov, you know he is a Russian Larry Brooks. Still he is Sergei Fedorov's father, a hockey coach and knows a bit what is normally going on in hockey behind the scenes.

From Sport-Express:

Victor Fedorov: "I live in the States for more than a dozen years and learned a lot about North American press. I can assert that the publication in Montréal press have some forces behind it. Believe me, every leak to the media is a certain signal, an alert."

Alright, we heard that. And then I go to my favorite Capitals blog (Dec. 22) and read that there's an ample possibility of Ovechkin's trade:

"The ‘Net is filled (overly so) with innuendo-specius speculation-baseless rink rumors, and I’m not pecking away at the keyboard this holiday weekend to contribute to that. Rather, I’m here to suggest that, should the Caps and Ovechkin arrive at an impasse in new deal discussions, excruciatingly painful though it may be, a deal with the Kings could make sense.

Caps’ fans do have to consider this possibility."

What I read from this? When the owner wanted to send someone to Moscow to cover World Championship, he picked up the phone and called the dudes from "On Frozen Blog". Now connect this and persisting rumors and Fedorov's quote, and here we go. If Leonsis have decided to trade Ovechkin, he needs to prepare Caps fans. "How in the world he had traded arguably the best hockey player in the World?" That would be a shock! You need to prepare the public, the fans. Where to start? First in blogosphere and then maybe ask the beat writers (watch Tarik and Corey Masisak).

And number one argument for me why Ovechkin could be traded? Ted Leonsis repeatedly said in a press that paying top money for any player however good he is makes no business sense. He is still paying for Jarg. Yes, we know "he is a fan too", but he is a businessman first.

So Caps fans, just like the boy scouts say, Be Prepared.


And at the end another quote from Fedorov...

Q. Can Montreal afford Ovechkin?

Victor Fedorov: And what for? Well, if Canadians would send all their best players to the Capital of the United States, they will be the Washington number two! That is, they'll get Ovechkin and a very weak surrounding cast. I think that the trade to Canada is not good for Ovechkin too. There he'll get such a pressure that you won't get in a quiet Washington even in a nightmarish dreams.

Exactly. It will be hard to trade Ovechkin in the sense of receiving a good return. Any team, L.A. Kings or Canadiens, should consider a possibility of becoming a Washington # 2. Other teams can just wait till they can make an offer. So neither side wants the trade, but if it slowly crawls to a contract impasse, a good indicator to it would be the media turning against Ovechkin.

Update: The references to Ovechkin's trade rumors not quoted in this blog:

• DC Sports Report, Dec. 21st


• The Hockey News, Dec. 17th


• Eklund: Ovechkin to the Kings, Dec. 21st


• Eric McErlain: Ovechkin isn't going anywhere
  , Dec. 21st

Update Dec 26: From Washignton Post:

It's believed the Capitals are trying to persuade Ovechkin to take slightly less money, so that the team can sign its other free agents and perhaps add another veteran. If the sides do not come to terms, team officials have given every indication that the Capitals will match any offer from a rival club.

"I've only known him for 30 days," Boudreau said of Ovechkin. "But he looks to me like a guy who wants to be as good a defensive player as there is, as good an offensive player as there is, as good a passer as there is, as good a teammate as there is. He's going to be as good as he wants to be."

Well, Tarik doesn't say much where Ovechkin's negotiations are headed, but it's not a negative post yet. Rather, "the team will match"...