Caps as Villains

After watching the commentary of the awesome Caps-Pens game on Sunday and reading the aftermath from around the league and from the passionate Caps fans, I found myself wondering about the perceptions that many seem to hold about the team and where they come from.  Homer Canadians like Don Cherry or spiteful Penguin fans aside, there does seem to be some sort of bias that extends beyond my sometimes-paranoid Caps fandom.  This is just a theory but I don't think it's an unreasonable one.  It acknowledges the concerns that some of us have without overreaching for some massive anti-Capitals conspiracy.

The Capitals are, first and foremost, Alex Ovechkin's team.  He's one of the most dynamic players to ever enter the league and, along with Sidney Crosby, is part of what may be one of the greatest rivalries the sport has ever seen.  Just about everyone, including the players themselves, acknowledge that this is a largely media created and fueled rivalry.  And let's face it, it's great for the NHL.  Here you have two players who are not only the best in the league right now, but couldn't be more different in playstyle and temperament.  Sid is the controlled, well-spoken, good-looking, Canadian boy.  He plays at both ends of the ice, sees the play like very few others ever have, and may be the hardest person to knock off the puck.  Ovie is the brash Russian rockstar.  He skates like a turbo-charged Mack truck, can and does score from anywhere and everywhere, and hasn't yet met a player he doesn't want to knock off the puck.  It's a match made in heaven for the media and they've pumped it more than any matchup since Byrd-Johnson.

A rivalry is always made better with a storyline.   With Larry and Magic it was that they'd already clashed numerous times before they even reached the pros.  While Ovie and Sid did face each other in some international competition, it wasn't much and while they were both stars in their own countries at the time, they had yet to hit the international spotlight.  When they entered the league, Crosby already had half of the storyline.  He was the Next One, a guaranteed No.1 pick, a sublime talent who had been groomed and prepared to be the perfect Canadian hockey player and he did not disappoint.  He had dominated at every level of his career and continued to do so in the NHL.  But something went wrong in that first season.  The Calder trophy was won by the previous No. 1 pick, a relative unknown playing for a Cupless team in a non-hockey town.  Despite this minor speedbump, things went back to the way they should when Sidney won the Art Ross and Hart trophies in his sophmore year.  But that Calder-stealing Russian just wouldn't go away.  With The Goal in Wayne Gretzky's house, he announced that the title of Greatest Player of His Generation wouldn't automatically go to the Next One.  The two of them would have to fight over it.  And with that realization, the hockey media began to collectively mess itself.

As previously mentioned, you'd be hard-pressed to find two players more perfectly contrasted to each other.  Crosby already had his personal story... it had been written years before he entered the league and "The Kid" just had to step into it and he did so with aplomb.  Sidney truly did become Captain Canada.  Ovechkin was compelling to watch and it wasn't long before his lethal shot, crushing bodychecks, and exuberant goal celebrations were just as famous in the hockey world, if not more so, than Crosby's image as a complete player.  When Ovechkin won the Hart trophy the year after Sidney, it was on- the two were declared rivals by the hockey media and they would compare them ever since.  It was the perfect story for hockey coming out of the lockout.  Captain Canada vs. The Russian Rockstar.  It was such a great story that even the two superstars couldn't avoid it and the first time they met in the playoffs, the paper rivalry became a real and heated thing that made for some great hockey.

But the story became a problem.  The best stories always have a hero and a villain.  As the Golden Boy who always said the right thing to the cameras and the symbol of Canadian hockey dominance, Sid was already positioned to be the hero of the tale.  As the Russian puck-hog who played on the edge, Ovie was destined to be the villain.  But that's ok.  I'd rather be Darth Vader than Luke Skywalker any day of the week.  But the story started affecting the game.  The Capitals became the best team with which to make an example.  After all, they are highly visible, loaded with stars, and are "dirty" and "undisciplined" players.  For years, the league has faced charges that it has a double-standard when it comes to infractions committed by superstars and, to a lesser extent, good teams.  This season, we have watched the Capitals get punished in ways that seem excessive by the league's normally lax standards.  Green's suspension this year is the clearest example.  He intentionally hit someone in the head and, as a result, received a 3-game suspension.  While you can argue that this is a weak suspension for the infraction, it went to a player with no prior history, was longer than the standard 2-games that have been handed out for worse infractions to repeat offenders this year, and wasn't as bad a hit as the retaliatory forearm to the back of the head that was doled out by Gonchar earlier this season.  The reason the league cited for his lack of suspension- no prior history.  No doubt that Green deserved a suspension.  But to receive one of the most severe suspensions doled out by the league this year?  They had to do something in light of the Cormier uproar and the Capitals are an easy target as a highly visible and popular team that doesn't have a huge fanbase.  This isn't the only example but is the most recent.  Add to the fact that the same people who caused the Green uproar are the ones who keep calling on people to run Ovechkin for his "dirty" play and you have to wonder where the even-handedness has gone.

I wrote at the beginning that this theory isn't a conspiracy theory and while it may sound like it at the moment, that's not the point.  I'm not saying that the Capitals have been intentionally (or unintentionally) targeted by the league or the media.  But I do think that the story of Crosby vs. Ovechkin, Captain Canada vs. The Russian Machine, The Golden Boy vs. The "Predator" (NBC's repeated description of Ovechkin, not mine), the Hero vs. the Villain, has taken root in the hockey world's collective subconcious.  If you think that's unrealistic or paranoid which do more people talk about as an example of the low character of either player- Ovechkin's "intentional" knee-on-knee with Gonchar in the playoffs or Crosby's third-man-in groin punch?  One has led to almost every collision the player has being compared to that hit and the other is rarely brought up except by Crosby haters.  One has saddled a player with the "dirty" label while the other is ignored as commentators talk about his character and how he's the perfect complete Canadian hockey player. 

The story of Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby is a great one.  It's great for fans, great for hockey, and the very real rivalry has made them both better players.  I'm even happy that I get to root for Darth Vader over Luke Skywalker.  But I expect the professionals in the hockey world (the media, the league, etc.) to be able to step back and help tell the story without getting caught up in it.  I'll happily admit that I'm a biased fan.  But these people are paid to be unbiased and for a league that caves to the media the most out of the four majors, it's irritating to watch a former GM so obviously side with one team while being a paid commentator on a nationally televised game.