ARLINGTON, Va. — More than a decade ago, Alex Ovechkin won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP during his first season playing right wing instead of his usual left. The next year, playing in the same spot, he scored a league-best 51 goals.
“I’ll take it right now,” Ovechkin said.
So would the Washington Capitals, who might get a spark from Ovechkin shifting to the right side for their second game of the season Tuesday against Vegas. Coach Spencer Carbery downplayed the move as an adjustment to balance out the lineup, but it could have a major impact as Ovechkin at age 39 chases Wayne Gretzky’s career goals record.
“I think it’s a small change,” Carbery said. “I find him on both sides of the ice a lot, and so left, right, it’s not a huge deal to me.”
Ovechkin joked, “Maybe I’m going to play goalie.” No, that will be Logan Thompson against his former team, the Golden Knights, who traded him in the offseason following a difference of opinion on his role with the organization.
After a 5-3 loss to New Jersey in the opener, Carbery moved Aliaksei Protas to top-line left wing — Ovechkin’s spot for the better part of his 20-year career in North America — alongside center Dylan Strome.
“We just mix it up,” Ovechkin said. “We still have options to find out combinations. It’s the beginning of the year, new faces on the team, so we have to find the right combinations, right chemistry, so that’s what we’re trying to do right now.”
Ovechkin played right wing in the lockout-shortened 2013 season and then again in 2013-14 when Adam Oates coached the team. Oates thought the right-handed-shooting Ovechkin had been on the wrong side all along.
Five goals in his first 16 games was a rough start, then Ovechkin scored 27 in his final 32 to get Washington into the playoffs.
“I have experience to play there, but it was a long time [ago],” Ovechkin said. “You start on the left or right, it doesn’t matter because in the game you’re coming from offensive zone to [the defensive] zone and you stay on the right side. So, play basically most of the time there — left or right.”
The schedule worked out for Thompson to get the net against Vegas following Charlie Lindgren starting against the Devils, with Carbery and goalie coach Scott Murray wanting to split the first two games of the season.
It also gets a potentially emotional night out of the way early on, after Thompson wanted more playing time and got a change of scenery with the trade at the draft in June.
“I think we were just at two different points,” Thompson said. “Me being still younger in my career, I just wanted a different opportunity.”
Thompson in training camp made a pointed comment about the Golden Knights taking credit for goaltending and jokingly wondered if he could even play in the league elsewhere. The Capitals expect the way things ended for Thompson to be a source of motivation this season.
“I will caution him to channel that,” Carbery said. “If you want something so bad, sometimes it goes the other way. But he’s the type of guy that he’s a fiery guy and loves to compete, and so this will be no different for him.”
Washington brought in a handful of new players during the offseason, including Jakob Chychrun and Matt Roy to revamp the defense. One game in, Roy is already out after being injured Saturday and leaving early in the second period.
“Definitely not ideal to lose him in the first game, for the game itself and then for the foreseeable future,” Carbery said. “I don’t think it’ll be crazy long, but he’s going to miss a decent amount of time.”
Dylan McIlrath gets the first chance to fill in, so the Capitals can keep their balance of three left and three right shots on the blue line. Roy’s absence will also mean more ice time for Trevor van Riemsdyk and No. 1 defenseman John Carlson, who played more than anyone else in the NHL last season.
Up front, Jakub Vrana, who made the team after attending camp on a tryout, is expected to replace Sonny Milano as part of a shakeup of the top three lines.
