Jets praise Ovie’s excellence

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This article was published 25/02/2020 (2021 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Cody Eakin was still in his teens when he first met the beast.

The newest Winnipeg Jets forward remembers his first NHL training camp with the Washington Capitals, the team that drafted him, and sharing the ice with Alex Ovechkin, who already had four 50-goal seasons on his resumé.

He was immediately impressed by the Russian scoring sensation, and not just because of the blazing shot. It turned out the beast was a pretty good dude.

“I’m there at camp and I see him, and he’s just a happy-go-lucky guy all the time, always in a good mood. He was just always having fun, just loving hockey. That’s one of the things that you take from a guy like that,” Eakin said Tuesday morning. “It’s a big thing for a team, too. When the going gets tough, people forget how important it is to have a guy like him around.

“The guy’s a beast. You could tell he just wasn’t going to get outdone by anyone, he’s not going to give up. He’s so strong and powerful. I definitely remember the shot. All these years later goalies still aren’t understanding how it’s going in.”

A decade has gone by and there’s still no stopping the ‘Great 8’, who fired his 700th career goal Saturday night in New Jersey against the Devils. Most appropriately, Ovechkin used that vaunted slapshot from the faceoff dot to beat Devils’ goalie MacKenzie Blackwood. His teammates immediately leaped onto the ice to celebrate with their captain.

He was honoured by the Caps organization and the NHL on Tuesday night prior to the Winnipeg-Washington matchup at Capital One Arena. Every fan in the house went home with a mini-Ovie jersey, and a massive No. 700 was created on the seats immediately behind the Washington bench.

An incredible video tribute included well-wishes from members of the 700-goal club Ovechkin’s still chasing, including Wayne Gretzky (894), Jaromir Jagr (766), Brett Hull (741), Marcel Dionne (731), Phil Esposito (717) and former Washington great Mike Gartner (708). The late, great Gordie Howe is second all-time behind Gretzky with 801.

Ovechkin, a 15-year veteran, buried his 43rd goal of the season early in the game against Winnipeg and is gunning to join Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy as the league’s only eight-time 50-goal scorers.

Eakin said he was privileged to first watch the phenom before he started wowing fans inside NHL buildings, and wear the same jersey, albeit for just a short time. The 28-year-old Winnipeg product broke in with the Capitals during the 2011-12 season but played just 30 games with the organization before being traded to the Dallas Stars during the off-season.

“I got a chance to watch him at the (2005) world junior (championship) in North Dakota and he was pretty special even at that age, and then he came into the league and we’ve been watching him on highlights every night. Pretty remarkable career,” said Eakin.

When he first started with the Jets, winger Patrik Laine made it no secret Ovechkin was his childhood idol and he’d get fired up to face him. While some of the novelty has worn off, the admiration remains strong for the man and the excellence by which he goes about his business.

“I guess we hope they would have had the ceremony some other night so we don’t have to stand on the ice for too long. But it’s great,” said Laine, generating some laughs. “That’s an unbelievable accomplishment. Probably one of the best scorers ever to play the game, so it’s pretty cool to be here and play against him.”

During the 2017-18 campaign — the second of the young Finn’s career — Laine kept pace with Ovechkin in the goal-scoring race until the final few weeks when the Washington star pulled ahead, finishing with 49 while the Jets sniper had 43.

Comparisons have been drawn since before the Jets drafted their guy second overall in 2016.

It was suggested to Laine he must have inside information on how the most lethal scorer of last two decades continues to produce.

“No idea. I’m like 570 shy (564, to be precise), so I don’t know. It must be fun. A lot of times he put his hands in the air, I know that for a fact. It’s hard to say because I’m not there, I’m not close.

“He’s scored the same kind of way 700 times. It seems like nobody can stop him. I don’t know. But it just tells you how good of a goal scorer he is and how good a goal-scorer’s instincts he has to find those open areas and use that shot.”

Winnipeg head coach Paul Maurice coached in Toronto and Carolina before joining the Jets in 2014, and was an eye-witness to Ovechkin’s wizardry.

“Well, we were in the Southeast Division for a while together, so I got to see a whole bunch of those early goals. There’s no answer to him. Try not to let him touch the puck, that’s the best way to go,” said Maurice. “That is such an ungodly number. That’s 14 50-goal seasons, and you’ve still got time on the clock.

“The consistency that goes to get you 700 is just an amazing thing. He will get appreciated (Tuesday night) for it, and rightfully so. And all the players will have that opportunity to say they played against the guy. He’s going to be the player that people talk about for 50 more years when he is retired. He’s just brilliant.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell