A little catching up to do

Well, it's been quite a long time since I've made a post here. I had better mention the fact that everyone knows by now... Ovechkin signs a 13 year $124 million deal with the Washington Capitals, making it the biggest and most valuable contract in the NHL ever. This pretty much locks him in as the Washington Capitals franchise player.

This is an excellent move by the Caps organization for a few reasons. The first being, they have secured a franchise player. I believe that they tried to do this with Jaromir Jagr and that failed miserably. Regarding Jagr still, I think the Caps are still paying part of his salary this year, and have one more year left to do so. Then they should be rid of the dead weight there.

Secondly, this allows them to build consistent marketing and fan support for the area here in DC where this is not a prime hockey market. The fans know that they will be in for a treat every night seeing one of the most explosive players in the NHL. The caps have traditionally had issues filling the seats with their fans and not the visiting team's fans. Hopefully in the next few years, people will come to see the Capitals, and not for their home teams/favorite teams. An excellent example of this was today (Sun. 1-13-08) vs. the Philadelphia Flyers. By the sounds of it, you might have thought that the game was being played in Philadelphia every time the Flyers scored a goal. Additionally, there was an awful lot of orange & black on display when the cameras panned the crowd.

Not only will it (the signing of Ovechkin long term) lure in the fans, but it may also have a secondary effect on luring in other top tier players in the NHL to play on the Caps team. The Caps have a lot of great young talent on their team. They also have a new coach who has done wonders for the Capitals. He can inspire the team and motivate them in new ways, and it has shown since he has taken over. In my opinion, Bruce Boudreau should receive the coach of the year award for turning this team around.

Another added benefit to signing Ovechkin long term would be merchandising. Today on comcast, they had shown a statistic of the top 5 best selling player jerseys in the NHL, and Ovechkin was #2 only to Sid the Kid. So this proves that he is ridiculously popular among the hockey fans in all markets, not just the DC market. Eventually this could spawn more Capitals fans in many more markets. Should the Capitals become a playoff calibur team, this could have many more benefits for marketing outside their own region. It would be amazing if they became as popular as say the Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadians, or New York Rangers.

Let's not put the cart before the horse here. I'm just excited about Alex Ovechkin becoming a Capital franchise player, and I hope he can bring the Stanley Cup to Washington DC sometime soon. Congratulations Ovechkin!