Alex Ovechkin Has Never Mattered Less to the Capitals' Chances at a Stanley Cup

This is part of VICE Sports' 2016 NHL preview coverage. You can read all our stories here.

The 2016-17 Washington Capitals season won't be about the character or legacy of Alex Ovechkin. Sure, he will be fairly or unfairly scrutinized during the regular season and inevitably compared to that left-handed Canadian center in Pittsburgh with the two Stanley Cups, but Ovechkin has never mattered less to the Capitals entering an NHL season than he does this one.

At 31 years old, Ovechkin is what he is—the game's most dangerous scorer that is just about a lock for somewhere between 40 and 50 goals. He is just as likely to bury a one-timer from the left face-off circle as he is a defenseman stupid enough to put his head down. His production is just as steady in the postseason. Barry Trotz has Ovechkin committed at both ends of the ice.

There's nothing with which to concern yourself this season about Ovechkin, not even those advancing grey hairs that only serve to make him look more regal.

What matters in Washington this season is literally everything else around Ovechkin.

This season isn't exactly a referendum on the Capitals themselves because no matter what happens, they're built to contend for the near future, but it's something close, as those grey hairs show Ovechkin isn't getting any younger.

Last season, a Presidents' Trophy-winning team that dominated in the regular season stumbled into a first-round dogfight with a Philadelphia Flyers team that found itself in the playoffs the way a person would if they boarded a plane to Hawaii by accident.

"Hmmm, I shouldn't be sitting in first class but I may as well make the most of this. What's that? TSA security? Well, if you want to get me off this plane, you're going to have to fight for it."

The Capitals eventually subdued and carried the Flyers off the plane but, as is tradition, they didn't have enough to get past the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round. Whether it was the physical six-gamer with the Flyers wearing them down or simply not being good enough to beat one of the NHL's elite teams, the travel route to the second round won't look that much different this season.

Outside of the potential psychological scars that come with so many first- and second-round failures during the Ovechkin administration (with Vice President Nicklas Backstrom), there's more than just mental roadblocks that face the Capitals. There are actual tangible ones that may present problems when the postseason arrives.

Barring some sort of mumps-based catastrophe that causes certain organizations to cease operations, the Capitals will have to go through Pittsburgh and, in all likelihood, the Tampa Bay Lightning to get out of the second round and eventually the East. There's something all three teams have in common besides being far and away the class of their conference; their rosters this season are almost identical to what they had last season.

This is why Ovechkin matters so little; he's going to do his thing, so who on the Capitals is in a position to do more to get the team over that Crosby-sized hump?

The answer: Lars Eller!

Just kidding.

Without considering the slight differences between all three teams in the areas of luck, bounces and breaks, the Capitals have two players who can make the biggest difference, especially in the postseason.

The first is Braden Holtby. Yep, they pay me the big bucks to write insightful things like, "The goaltender that won the Vezina Trophy in 2016 can offset any discrepancies between the Capitals and their rivals." But when it comes time to win a short series and the 82-game separator that is shot-attempt differential can become less of a deciding factor, the Capitals have the edge over almost everyone in the league thanks to Holtby.

In the Capitals' six-game loss to the Penguins, however, Holtby seemed off somehow. Known for his quiet way and corpse-like stillness in net, he was swimming and scrambling for answers like a drunken Ryan Lochte at times—the worst possible times, as he was .909 or worse in three of the Caps' four losses and didn't look like his usual confident self (I majored in Sports Body Language at Rutgers, so I am an expert in this field).

Ovechkin had seven points in six games against the Penguins, which is plenty. Again, he's not the issue.

But if you want a player to place on a pedestal so you can hurl rotten vegetables at him if things go wrong, don't look to Ovechkin, Backstrom, Holtby or even the slow-footed whipping boy Brooks Orpik.

Look to John Carlson.

This decade's Stanley Cup champions and even most of the runners-up have one thing in common—the elite No. 1 defenseman. Some champs were built on speed, others on size and there was the occasional team carried by unconscious goaltending for two months. But think about the 25-minute plus blue-line anchors all these teams boasted.

The Kings and Blackhawks had Drew Doughty and Duncan Keith to go with their elite teams. The Bruins had Zdeno Chara and last year's Penguins had Kris Letang. Heck, the teams that fell short in those series had the likes of Victor Hedman, Chris Pronger, that Chara fella again, Brent Burns last year and the Canucks' fortunes may have been different if they didn't lose the underappreciated Dan Hamhuis to a hernia injury.

What's that? You want to bring up the 2012 Devils and Bryce Salvador? Hey, that's one team out of 14 and they got smoked by the Kings, so the point stands.

At 26 years old, Carlson needs to become that defenseman or something close to it.

He seems poised to be that guy and his 12 points in 12 playoff games last season speak to his talent and ability. But can he shut down Crosby? Or Evgeni Malkin? Carlson (with help from the other four guys on the ice, of course) must neutralize one of the two best centers in the world over a seven-game series if the Caps are to ever get over the hump. He was good in the Penguins series and yes, if he's out there against Crosby, someone else (Matt Niskanen, probably, who was a big negative in that series) has to handle the other guy.

This is like asking The Rock and Vin Diesel to neutralize two of The Avengers, but this is where we are at in the NHL right now.

There are other players who can do more this season—Tom Wilson can show why he was worth a first-round pick and stop playing head-hunting games; new acquisition Brett Connolly can show why he was worth a first-round pick and stop playing net-missing games, and Dmitry Orlov can take a step forward during the regular season so Orpik is phased out by the postseason.

It would also help if Evgeny Kuznetsov doesn't disappear again in this year's playoffs, but that's more obvious than the earlier Holtby point.

There are a lot of players the Capitals need more from this season if they want to become a Stanley Cup champion and, for once, none of them are Alex Ovechkin. In that way, the Capitals are already ahead of where they were at the start of last season.