You've heard it from Ted now, "If Alex does become a restricted free agent..."

From Owner's Corner, Jan. 8, 2008

No mention of our team can pass, it seems, without noting Alex Ovechkin’s contract status, and I can tell from postings in the blogosphere and message boards that this has a lot of fans worried. I respect Alex and George McPhee’s commitment to keep the negotiations out of the media and frankly have wondered who is making up some of the things I have read. As I have stated on numerous occasions, we couldn’t be more impressed with Alex as a player and a person and we expect him to be in D.C. for a long, long time.

I don’t have much to add, but want to say this: We love Alex Ovechkin. I think he truly enjoys Washington and being a Washington Capital. He and George will keep working on a deal that will make both sides happy, and they have plenty of time to get that done.

If Alex does become a restricted free agent, we have a collective bargaining agreement that protects teams from losing a player they drafted until age 27.

And why we don't have any results yet? Crosby got his contract long time ago. I am afraid that Caps managements 'loves Ovechkin', but they are not prepared to give him a penny more than Crosby. This is why there are no news which are bad news in this case. This is one ugly situation where there's one step from love to hate. You've heard it here, from Ted: "If Alex does become a restricted free agent..."

Let's explore the hypothetical situation in which Alex and Caps fall into into contract impasse and we are in the summer of 2008.

• Montreal offers Ovechkin.. let's say that all GMs including Kevin Lowe are warned that Caps will match and they gave up, there are no offers.
  
  Ovechkin doesn't have a contract, he goes into a holdout, he demands a trade. The time goes on, Caps can't get a fair trade value, meanwhile Ovechkin plays in Russia. Who is the winner here? Nobody is the winner, and all hockey fans are robbed.
  
  
• Montreal offers Ovechkin 10 mil 15 years contract, Caps match and what? Who is the winner here? Moneywise Ovechkin, but the relationship is strained beyond repair. Alex demands a trade.