Alex Ovechkin has once again come under fire for his failure to go deeper in the playoffs.
But Bruce Boudreau, who last coached the Washington Capitals in the 2011–12 season—he was fired in November 2011—said he’s convinced that Ovechkin cares deeply about the team’s failures and the criticism he faces when they lose.
“I firmly believe he doesn’t let it show too much, but I really believe he cares,” Boudreau said Thursday on Sportsnet 590 The Fan’s Prime Time Sports. “I mean, he hears all the criticism, he watches TV, he reads the papers, so he knows that the criticism is there. I just don’t think he lets it show outwardly.
“I could see it on the bench in the third period last night. He looked really upset ‘cause he was sitting there thinking, ‘Oh, here we go again.’”
The criticism, Boudreau said, is likely bothersome in part because Ovechkin is more used to praise. “He’s so used to getting so much positive ink that I think when he gets negative stuff it really bothers him.”
Asked how long it takes for the pain of a Game 7 loss to wear off, Boudreau replied “a long time.”
“You can make as much money as you want, but the guys are still guys, and they still hear the criticism everywhere they go when you lose,” he said. “So it’s not fun.”
The Minnesota Wild head coach talked about his own personal connection to Wednesday night’s back-to-back Game 7s in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Both games featured a team Boudreau had previously coached: the Capitals, who were eliminated at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Anaheim Ducks, who defeated the Edmonton Oilers to move on to the conference finals.
“I was one for two last night,” Boudreau joked. “The last thing I wanted was them to end up in the Stanley Cup final together.”
The 62-year-old said he’s still recovering from Minnesota’s surprising first-round exit at the hands of the St. Louis Blues and admitted that a former team’s success can sting a little bit. Still, Boudreau said he was pleased in particular for Andrew Cogliano.
“I was really happy for him,” he said of the Ducks’ veteran winger, who scored his first goal of the post-season on Wednesday in Anaheim’s 2–1 victory. “He’s one great person. All he wants to do is win. And so when he scored, normally I’m not happy for them when they win, but I was really happy for him.”
Even if Boudreau doesn’t enjoy watching the Ducks win games, he had some nice words for the team as a whole, saying that they’ve got a good team.
“When they want to go, their first two lines are really good,” he said. “And their defence is very, very mobile.”
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