Capitals built team to insulate Ovechkin, not replace him

The Washington Capitals have had one of the best offseasons in the NHL, and they got even more good news on Thursday.

Captain Alex Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time leading goalscorer, is returning for another season, and he will join a revamped forward group that includes new impact additions Jordan Kyrou and Alex Tuch.

Those moves raised major questions from observers and pundits alike about whether or not the Capitals were planning for life without Ovechkin, as he ended last season on an uncertain note as to whether or not he wanted to return.

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed why the Capitals’ splashy offseason on the wings was never an indication that Ovechkin had decided to retire.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Alexander Ovechkin back with the Washington Capitals, it is a one-year deal at $4.25 million… There were some rumblings yesterday that maybe he wasn’t going to come back, but Ovi’s inked his deal. The team has made it official. They had $5.25 million in cap space, and he signed a $4.25 million deal. Perfectly lines up for the Caps.

Carter Hutton: Yeah it’s awesome. It’s unbelievable… I think someone tweeted that he was done… Just way off… For me, I think Ovechkin, like, you could tell last year the way he behaved in certain situations that it didn’t feel like it was over. This is awesome. To the point where everyone was saying that Washington was doing this because they were replacing Ovi. No, they were just trying to make sure that they were going to be a competitive team so that when Ovi comes back, he has something to play for. We’re going to have to track his D-zone draws and effort level, but he will still score goals because he will be in the No. 1 spot on the power play.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…