Lighten up...

In our last preview of the season, we wrote this of Alex Ovechkin...

"We do not want to argue for an Ovechkin becoming a 35-55-80 point player. The Caps won’t win with that player... And what we’re looking for is not necessarily Ovechkin suspending his aggressiveness in the offensive zone. We think it is a case of more people getting more opportunities. Instead of Ovechkin having to carry the offense with 422 shots (his career 82-game average), it might be an Alexander Semin, a Nicklas Backstrom, or someone else and taking more advantage of the opportunities presented to them."

Semin has, in fact, taken advantage of those opportunities in a rather big way. And as for Ovechkin, his 2-6-8, +6, in ten games played is not so far removed from his history (total scoring that is). Here is his first ten-game history over four years:

2005-2006: 6-5-11, +1 (2-3-5 on PP)
2006-2007: 6-4-10, -3 (3-1-4 on PP)
2007-2008: 6-7-13, +2 (3-1-4 on PP)
2008-2009: 2-6-8, +6 (0-1-1 on PP)

At even strength, he's very close to his production of the previous three years. It appears that the power play -- right now a team-wide problem -- is where some of the difficulty lies.

So maybe lighten up...when the power play shakes off its slumber, those numbers should improve dramatically.