The Sheet with Jeff Marek - On the Sheet: Tarik El-Bashir on Rick Bowness Snapping and Ovechkin's Future

Episode Date: April 15, 2026

Marek is joined by Tarik El‑Bashir to break down what comes next for the Washington captain and whether Tuesday night’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets may have been Ovechkin’s final appearance in the NHL. The conversation explores what the next chapter could look like for the Washington Capitals — both with Ovechkin still in the picture and in a future where the franchise turns the page from one of the greatest goal scorers in hockey history.Leave a voicemail: https://www.speakpipe.com/TheSheetEmail us: [e-mail] TO OUR SPONSORS!!👍🏼 Fan Duel: https://www.fanduel.com/👍🏼 Ninja: https://www.sharkninja.ca/ninja-crispi-pro-6-in-1-countertop-glass-air-fryer-rose-quartz/AS101CRS.html?utm_source=Meta&utm_medium=Paid+Social&utm_campaign=H1NinjaCrispi&utm_content=NinjaEN&dwvar_AS101CRS_color=cdb9b8Reach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us!If you liked this, check out:🚨 OTT - Coming in Hot Sens | https://www.youtube.com/c/thewallyandmethotshow🚨 TOR - LeafsNation | https://www.youtube.com/@theleafsnation401🚨 EDM - OilersNation | https://www.youtube.com/@Oilersnationdotcom🚨 VAN - CanucksArmy | https://www.youtube.com/@Canucks_Army🚨 CGY - FlamesNation | https://www.youtube.com/@FNBarnBurner🚨 Daily Faceoff Fantasy & Betting | www.youtube.com/@DFOFantasyandBetting____________________________________________________________________________________________Connect with us on ⬇️Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/daily_faceoff💻 Website: https://www.dailyfaceoff.com🐦 Follow on twitter: https://x.com/DailyFaceoff💻 Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dailyfaceoffDaily Faceoff Merch:https://nationgear.ca/collections/daily-faceoffReach out to [e-mail] to connect with our Sales Team and discuss opportunities to partner with us! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I love talking to Terik Elbashir. And you know what? You know what's interesting? Tarak, thanks so much for stopping by the program. You may be the only person who's really awake today, by the way, because Zach and I were red-eyeing back from Colony yesterday. But so let me ask you something here. When you, we're getting to get to caps here in a second.

But when you saw Rick Bonas last night, what were the first things that went through your mind? Because that was like an all-timer. That was a guy that was just like just emptying the tank seasons over contracts done I'm 71 years old

my legacy in hockey is cemented everybody knows me everyone most people love me and Bones is pretty tough not to not to like I'm sure a lot of those players don't like them right now but like what went through your mind

when you saw him like just unleashing on his players so Jeff thanks for having me on I actually covered Rick a little bit at the start of my career. I'm older than I look. He was a replacement coach, I want to say midway through the 97, 98 season for the Islanders when I was a cub reporter for the New York Times. So I did cover him a little bit. And he was really transparent and honest.

Yes. That's Rick. Yeah, did not hide his emotions. I do remember that from 25 years ago. So I was on the post game show for the Capitals last night, so I didn't see this in real time. But my phone started kind of blowing up. Just, you know, the beat writer text thread and other threads that I'm on.

The barking chain. We call it the barking chain, Tara. It's the barking chain. That's what it is. The barking chain. Exactly. So I quickly tuned in and clicked and I was like, wow. You know, at the beginning of my first,

my career and Jeff, you've been around a long time. You heard outbursts like this from star players and from coaches more frequently back, you know, a couple of decades ago. Guys are now so polished and so conscious of how their words are going to be perceived in the media by fans. They're so coached up by PR guys and ladies that you don't get that unvarnished emotion anymore, at least not that often. So I feel like when I went back and I listened to his entire press conference, it reminded me of like a throwback, right, to what you would have heard after a bad season ending loss, you know, 20 years ago. And he spoke from the heart. And I honestly, I've been doing this for a long time. And I sometimes feel bad for players and for coaches. I don't feel that bad,

But sometimes I do feel a little bad that in the heat of the moment after collapsing down the stretch or being eliminated in double overtime of a game seven, they're still sweating and angry and tears are kind of welling up in their eyes. And now they have to sit in front of cameras and reporters and answer questions. You know, I know there's a cool-off period. Some people take longer to cool off than others. And look, I have to imagine. that Rick is probably regretting some of what he said yesterday.

You know, like you said, he's 71 years old. His legacy is secure in this game. This is not the first outburst we have seen from bones, right? Like, he's done this before. And the part that really stood out to me was when he said, I should have done this a month ago or something along those lines. You know, to maybe shake the guys, you know, when they started this kind of malaise and kind of,

downward spiral because for a long time, I thought Columbus was going to be a threat in the playoffs. And now they're not even in. And I'm sure he was really frustrated. And I know a lot of players, you know, it's funny. Players don't usually watch the postgame press conferences, but their wives and their moms and their dads do. And then they get like a text message going, whoa, Bones was really hot tonight. Here's what he said. And then they go and they watch it. I'm sure there were some guys who were probably little upset by that. I saw right before we came on, Zach Werenski's Breakdown Day interview, scrolled across my phone. So, you know,

best player in the team, star player, you know, he, certainly you could tell he was upset and was treading very carefully with his words, which is probably the right move. But, you know, it's funny. As media and as fans, sometimes, you know, we complain when we get what I say are in the bubble comments from players and coaches. Like you know what they're going to say. It's almost like it's just scripted and they're just going to,

they're just going to say some words and then head off to the showers. There's a strategy. I've always looked at it. They go in there with a strategy to sound like you're saying something, but ultimately say nothing because that lets you get on with your day. That makes the rest of your day peaceful. Right. Right.

And then we, and then sometimes we also get upset when they go in on their players. or on their opponent. And you can't have it both ways, right? Like, you either want the unbarnished kind of, you know, stream of consciousness, how they're feeling in the moment, or you want the PR dribble that we normally get. So, I mean, you're right.

Everything that Rick Bonas said yesterday, that's going to lead every hockey show all day, maybe for the rest of the week. I mean, it's red meat for guys like me and you, right? Oh, it's a, it's with a, with a big fat protein shit. beside it. Like, that's what that thing is, man. It's great. And there's a, and like, the thing about it, too, is like, it depends on how you look at it, too. Like, there could be multiple layers here to this whole thing. Like, I'll be honest with the tech. When I first

saw it, the first thing you do is like, wow, like, you're stunned at how blunt Rick bonus is being. And, and by the way, I swear we're going to get the caps here. I swear, I swear, I swear, I swear, I swear. But your, your blunt, like, his bluntness is jarring. To your point, because so much of what you get is, you know, right out of central casting. Okay, this is what a hockey player is supposed to say. Go, you know, be a hockey player and say these things that hockey players are supposed to say. So that's jarring. But then you go back and you go right back to that initial where in that moment, that's

kind of like his brain spooling. And he's deciding internally, am I going to do this or not? Am I going to do that? Because he's buying himself some time, just a couple seconds. And then he just says, screw it, I'm going all in. and he does that. And I kind of, and maybe this is just like being cynical about the whole thing. Not that I think this was his intention,

but I think you can make the argument that by doing that, he was maybe getting himself another contract. Because he was articulating frustration, like regardless of the words that he used in the targets. And I want to get in a couple of those in a second. But he was, what he was articulating was a reason to hire. him because he was articulating the frustration that the fans feel. Like you look at Columbus Blue Jackets fans.

They will be the Kool-Aid man going through a wall for Rick bonus. Look at this. He's not standing for it either. There's nothing canned about this. He's not making excuses. He's being like, and Rick's going to change. Like, yeah, let's go Rick. Like, honestly, one of my thoughts, Tarek, was like, if you are the general manager,

Don Waddell, who's been around a long time as you know, what are you thinking? Are you not thinking like, oh, he's painting a Picasso here? This is, this is him getting everybody on his side. Because he, because he keeps mentioning, I don't know if I'm back. I don't know if I'm back. Wink, wink, wink, but I'm going to, this is going to be my audition tape for why I should come back. Because if I'm coming back, this culture of losing is, like. That was the key word that I really sees in on was culture.

Yeah. Because that resonates with fans. and I'm sure with management. 100%. I've got a couple thoughts there, Jeff. Number one, and you kind of alluded to it a minute ago. Usually

when there's an outburst like this in the media, it's been building for a long time. I can't imagine every player in that room was like, oh my God, he's been so cool and nice and calm all this time. Where did that come from? A lot of them were like, yeah, we've been heading down this path for a while

He finally blew off some steam there. And, you know, the other thing is, you know, whenever you have, whether it's a job or a relationship and there's some turmoil, I feel like Bones kind of just put his cards on the table. It was one of those things where this is either going to get me extended or it's going to get me fired, but I'm at the point where I have to make a stand. I have to, again, put my cards on the table and let the chips fall. where they may. And I think that's exactly what he was doing with that statement. Two things. One, the culture thing is the one that grabs you.

Like, that's the one that, like, that's the one that, like, grabs you and, and pushes you up against the wall. 100%. There was something else that was really subtle in here. When, uh, I, I think it was Aaron Portsline who asked the follow up about what changed because the team was going great. All of a sudden, it's like, here comes CBJ, you know, Bones takes over from Evanston, it's a different voice, you know, Marchenko's scoring, Fantalia scoring,

depth guy, Dan Hinen scoring goals. Like all of a sudden, you know, the younger players are starting to produce more. And then the Olympic break. Actually, started a little bit before the Olympic break. And the team nose dive. And he was asked about this. Now, I was always, and I've always been told that one of the worst things, maybe the worst thing you can say to a hockey player, let's call them soft. That is like, whoa. Yep. But when he was asked about what changed,

he didn't use the word soft, but he said, it got too hard. To me, that was him diplomatically saying, we were soft. Did you take the same thing? Because when you say it was too hard and these guys, these guys wouldn't battle, like, oh, like that.

That's that line. Like, you're right. Soft is the line. But I'm thinking, he kind of said that. He just didn't use that word. He just said it in a different way. I totally agree. And when you say, to me, there's two things that make a pro athlete sit up in their chair and maybe challenge you back.

And that is when you question their toughness or whether they're able to be mentally tough and get through some adversity or a hard stretch, as Bone said there. And when you question work ethic, when you question work ethic, when you. say they aren't working hard enough. Those are the two things where, you know, a pro athlete, I don't care if you're an NFL room, NBA room, NHL room, they take a step forward. They go, what did you say? That really is the thing that as a reporter can get you in a lot of trouble.

You've got to be very careful. If you're going to play that card, you better have some stats and some information and some off-the-record comments to back that up because those to me are the two things that really can set a pro athlete or a pro coach off. It was a fascinating, I don't know what to call it other than, like, part of it was like, it was wonderful hockey theater. Like we're used to John Porter, or at John Tortorella, right? Like going, going nuts sometimes on reporters.

But that was a unique one. Now, let's not lose sight here of the fact that this happened after a loss to the Washington Capitals. Like, here's the thing, Tarek, I don't know the last. I refer to these games as potato chip games. He's like the empty calorie games. I don't know the last time I saw a potato chip game have more stories come out of it

than Columbus Washington last night. Not just bones, but like, and we knew it going in that it was going to be a story, obviously, but it's like, did we just see Alexander Ovechkin for the last? Like this is the quote unquote last game, throwaway game, who care, like it's all over all. And there are so many stories that came out of this potato, this bag of potato chips that, you know, the main reason I wanted to have you on was to talk about

Alexander Ovechkin in the future of the capitals. The Rick bonus stuff, that's just bonus fries. And so that's a wonderful conversation too. But the way that I've been looking at it, let me know if you feel the same way. Along the way here most recently, Alexander Ovechkin has given, has left enough sort of like breadcrumbs to satisfy the group that think he's coming back, that think he's not coming back, or thinks that he doesn't know what his decision is going to be yet. Like there's enough clues in there that you can go, aha, look, he's coming back.

Or aha, look, he ain't coming back. Or aha, look, maybe he really just doesn't know yet. Like, it's everyone's got their little flavor puck of what they think they're going to, they're going to get here and they got it. But there's enough to spread around for everybody. So I can't make sense of it. I don't know other than maybe I just suspect that. he doesn't know. What do you think? You're there every day. I'm here. You're there. You know better

than me. What are you thinking? I'm going to go with the elephant behind door number three, which is he doesn't actually know. And I've got a lot of thoughts about this. And I feel like it's very wise of him to kind of tap the brakes on going down a road that maybe he's not totally comfortable going down because it's impossible to put the toothpaste back in the tube if you tell everyone you're retiring with a few weeks ago. Look, I was a young reporter in New York when Wayne Gretzky called it a career. And so I've been through this a little bit. I was there in Ottawa when he said goodbye to Canada and I was there at the Garden when he played his final game in the NHL. And so what I witnessed the last two games with Obie was to me kind of reminiscent of

of, you know, what I saw back in, what was that, 1999. I really don't think Obie has totally made up his mind. Now, I'm not naive enough to believe that he's just started thinking about this this morning and he's going to come up with a decision in the next few weeks. I'm sure this has been weighing on him for a very long time. It's a very big decision. But people that I talk to in and around the organization and I trust and, you know, And when I heard from as recently as a couple hours ago, who would know if Alex had made up his mind said, I don't know.

We don't know. He hasn't let us know. And we're not going to push him. We're going to give him the time and the requisite amount of space. And we're going to support him. However he needs us, if he does. And we'll be ready when he is comfortable and confident to say, hey, guys, I thought about it. I've talked to my trusted advisors.

I've talked to my family. I've reflected. And here's what I've decided to do. And that he just hasn't arrived at that moment. Now, I'm also told from people in the organization that the caps are, I mean, they are one of the better teams when it comes to being prepared for an offseason. I mean, they manage the cap really well. They make good, good, true decisions in free agency.

One of the best scouting departments, they are very solid as a front office. They've got two plans. They've got a with-O-V plan and a without-O-B plan. And as soon as he gives them the word, they will be able to adjust and adapt their strategy to whatever number eight decides. And an interesting point that I also heard was, you know, if he does say,

hey, I want to come back and they're able to kind of work through what that looks like and what his role will be, I was told that, you know, and I know there are a lot of fans out there. Like, oh, my God, if he comes back, he's going to demand this much. money and that's going to hurt her from a cap standpoint. That's going to hold us back because we can't

go get the players. No, I was actually told that the cap is accelerated so, so much, and there's so much space in the system for the capitals, they could sign him to, you know, a deal kind of where he's at now or maybe even a little more and still have enough money to go get the pieces that they feel like they want to pursue in pre-agency. So, you know, they don't look at this as, man, if he comes back from a cap standpoint, he's really going to be, you know, an albatross. at all. They are of two minds. I mean, they feel like they can absorb that cost and still improve the team. But the big question is, roll. Can they agree on what that is going to look like if Ovi decides to come back? So I got to imagine that they're going to want to know. They're not

going to push them, but they're going to want to know before the draft is what, June 26, 27th in Buffalo. they're going to want to know well in advance of that so they can start having some more confidence when they're talking to other teams about trades and other things. So where are we at here? April tax day, so April 15th. Yeah, 15th.

Yeah, so you got, let's call it four to six weeks before he really needs to start telling them how he's feeling and what direction he's leaning in and then probably pretty soon at the end of that six weeks he needs to kind of level up and tell him what he's going to do. So circling back, Puckpedia has it at $34 million in cap space, to your point. Like, no one's dent in the car here, okay? Like, no one's dent in the car.

The other thing that I wonder about, like, to your other point, too, like at a certain point, the question isn't if it's when, and that is when are you going to tell us? Because you can only be frozen for so long. Like, you know, one of the reasons is you all know, just to our viewers and listeners understand. And when a player gets offer sheeted, the general manager has a week to either match or, you know, or let the player go. And managers use the seven days because they want to freeze out the other team from doing business. Now you don't know.

Now you don't know what your budget is. It's strategic. But when it comes to a situation like this, like there's only so long that Chris Patrick can. be frozen because to your point you don't want to start executing plan B and then plan A comes back because OV now is all of a sudden decided oh you know what I am going to come back so I don't know when that like I'm sure that Ovechkin in his mind has a drop dead date and maybe it's syncs up with Chris Patrick you would hope I think that that would certainly be you know one courtesy to to give to the capitals organization if you're Alexander Ovechkin the other thing

that I wonder about too is what for Ovechkin what is the most important conversation like who is it with is it with Chris Patrick I'm talking about like with the capital's organization is it Chris Patrick is it Ted Leonces

or is it and this is the one thing that I've wondered about lately is it with Spencer Carberry and maybe the main issue isn't so much you know decimal point it's deployment that we should be talking about the D words,

decimal point or deployment. How does Spencer Carberry see him fitting in? Because let's face it, over the last little while, I think we've all gone back and had looks and seen highlights of young Ovechkin. Now, age gets all of us. But

like, man, he was just a force of nature when he played. He's not that player anymore. But still, like, I just wonder how much of the conversation revolves around how Spencer Carberry is looking at deploying him next year and how much is that influencing his decision. Does that make sense? Yeah, absolutely. I would say, you know, he's got a lot of respect for Ted. They're very close. I got to imagine there'll be a conversation there if it hasn't

already happened or, you know, it'll probably continue to happen over the next little bit. I would say, just knowing what I know about Alex, he's probably curious about two things. He wants to know what is Chris's plan? If I do come back, how are you going to improve this team? Who are you going after? Are you going to be able to get us the pieces that can make this power play better? You know, what is the plan for our team? Because if I'm going to come back and go through an offseason of getting my 40-and-a-half-year-old body ready, like, you better tell me that we're going to make the playoffs next year. And then the conversation also with Spencer is, okay, well, clearly I've lost a step, maybe in a step and a half.

But I still led your team in goals, in points, in shots on goal, in expected goals, in slot shots, in cycle chances, and forecheck chances. I'm still a productive player. I figured out how to still be productive even at my advanced age, which is one, a 40-year-old here, advanced age. You know, I still have something to give. How are we going to meet in the middle? because clearly my ice time was going down towards the end of the year.

And that's probably going to be the harder conversation. I think the one with Chris won't be as hard. I think the one with Spencer is going to be a little bit harder. Because, I mean, just watching 82 games this year, you know, again, I think there is a compromise to be had. Maybe it's Alex, you're going to play 13, 14 minutes. You're going to be third line right wing. Two minutes on the power plate, that's not happening anymore. You know, we're going to have to manage that a little.

bit differently so we can be better on entries and we can take advantage of some of our some of our faster young players that we're starting to transition to if you're Alex and this was not part of your question but if you're Alex you have to be inspired by the way this team finished the season they missed the playoffs because the power play stung for the first half of the year they missed the season because pierre luke du bois missed a couple of several months and there was a stretch in january where pld was out tom willson was out and Ilya Proto's out. That's an entire line.

That's your entire first line, essentially, was out. And they went like, they went like, don't quote me on this, but like six, eight and two or something. It just wasn't good enough. And it was their busiest and kind of the turning point part of the season. I remember at the end of December, even Coach Carberry told the media, we're going to know all we need to know about our playoff chances in January leading up to that Olympic break. And they didn't pass the test.

And they were playing catch up from there on. and they just weren't able to make up enough ground. And so if you're Alex, you have to be inspired by the way that this team finished from mid-March until now. Not only did they play very well with a few hiccups, I mean, you know, the St. Louis, New Jersey, Rangers, there were some losses that weren't great that hurt them. But you have to be looking at Ilya Proto and Cole Hudson and Ryan Leonard who hit 20 goals going, all right well that next generation of guys is here like we could actually be very good next year maybe I won't be the headliner anymore yeah but I can still find my fit find my role in this team

and help guide these young guys back to the playoffs because and he's still having fun man he still got a smile on his face and you listen to those comments last night and we had him miced up on monumental he was calling he was yelling at the the referees. Too many men. That was a slacks. How did you miss? I mean,

that he didn't sound like a guy. You know, you know, he was yelling at Dylan Strone for not yelling at TVR because he missed, he mean, you know, they miscommunicated on a, on a breakout pass.

Like, that was not a guy who was ready to walk off, you know, skate off into the sunset. That sounded like a guy who was still leading his team in the battle all the way until the finish line. So, so here,

that's a lot of words. Yeah. No, no, no, no. That's good. But it, It leads me to, it's somewhere that I'm kind of embarrassed I haven't thought about before. And that is, and let me give this like a pretentious historical backdrop.

1971, Jacques Plont sets the then safe percentage record in the NHL. I believe it started calculating safe percentages like, I want to say like mid-50s, maybe early 60. But anyway, so he sets a 9-44, okay? Which like ungodly, wow, incredible. It's insane safe percentage record. Until you peel the onion back a little bit and you go like, oh, hold on. So he only played 40 games. And then you peel it back even more.

And then you realize not only did he just play 40 games, but as a way to entice him to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs, they allowed him to choose the games that he played. I've never heard that story. It's Jacques Plant. Listen, it doesn't diminish how great he was one of the greats. Full stop, last call, good night, all of it. Jacques Plont was one of the finest.

Great stick handling, goaltender, all of it. Just tremendous goal. But are we to assume that he would only be interested in playing, I almost said 82, but 84 games next year? Or do we see, would he even entertain the idea in the era of load management, Tarak al-Bashir, that he does, that he plays a reduced schedule? Or is it 84 or bust? As we're putting everything on the table.

Knowing Alex, knowing Alex, it's 84 and bust, I mean, 84 or bust. I mean, he played all 82 this year at 40 and a half years old. Jacques Plont was 41. Jacques Plont was 41 in 1971. You know, as we're speaking about all-time greats, let me bring up another point. A guy that Alex Obechkin has looked up to his entire career and has mentioned to me on a number of occasions that he admires

and really respects his longevity is Yarm or Yager. What did Yager do? He played until his mid-40s. Yeah. He, and it was productive into his mid-40s. He just signed a one-year deal every summer. He kind of woke up and was like, yeah, like, like still here. I feel all right, you know.

All right. Hey, GM, I'll take that deal you put on the, that you put in your top drawer on breakdown day. I'll take it. I mean, I can't, hang on. I can't see him do like, I can't see him doing like hockey no-match. and just like go like Jagger like Dallas here, Boston there Philly here, Calgary, maybe a little bit of Florida

I'll get a I can't see it. Jeff, to be clear, he's not playing for another team. It's going to be for Washington. I just wonder if, I just wonder if he feels like he's just going to go year to year, just kind of see how things go. I mean, evergreen. I can't.

Evergreen deal. Evergreen deal. Yeah, evergreen deal. I can't see him. Yeah, I can't see him play two or three more years. But just the way things ended the last two days, I would say a week ago, I would have said, yeah, this is it. Oh, my God, this is it. I mean, we all knew this was coming and this is it.

And what I have witnessed over the last 48, 72 hours has kicked open that door a little bit. That door is ajar now. Now I'm going, I don't know. I mean, he literally said last night in his post-game scrum, hopefully it wasn't my last game. I mean, was he referring to Moscow de Namo? That's what I thought. I don't know. That's what I thought.

That's what I thought. He also might have been referring to 84 games with the Washington Capitals next year. I don't know. It's fascinating. Like, he's always been one of the most interesting players in the NHL, like from day. Even before, like, again, like, I keep going back to like that World Junior Tournament in Halifax, where Russia won goal. Like, there's a mystique around him that. has never dimmed, right?

And here we are. And we're still guessing about what's next for Alex Ovecich. Well put. Anything you want to add before we let you go about either the Ovechkin or the cap season, anything top of mind for you, a couple of things. Maybe things that, you know, outside of Washington hockey media we've all slept on or missed, anything that you want to put on the table or remind people of. You know, I would say the one thing.

thing that I think folks that don't watch the Capitals on a night to night basis the way I do, and I know you watch every game every night. I don't know how you do it. Don't sleep. No, is the fact that when

we started thinking about Obie coming to the end, and again, we don't know what he's going to do, everyone kind of assumed there was going to be this long cold winter in D.C. Like it was just going to be a wasteland of 70 point seasons for a few years, until they could somehow win the lottery again or, you know, get a second or third pick and go get that transformative player again.

And kudos to Chris Patrick and his front office for the free agent signings they've executed over the past couple of summers and to the scouting staff for identifying young players, because this pipeline was not very good three or four years ago. It's one of the best in the league now And this team's in good hands I mean we'll see what Obie does But Ilya Prudis is going to be a player Cole Hudson I mean

Is he as good as Lane It's really early he's only played 14 games Different play I know the accent is on skating But still a different A different player Like he's a great skater in a different way In a different way

I think I think he's going to be A multiple time all-staking and a game changer in a different way than Lane. Ryan Leonard, I thought he was going to score 15 goals this year. He got to 20. You know, I think that Justin sort of. I don't want to forget him.

I mean, he was pencil in the fourth line right wing when they acquired him in the summer. He also got to double digits and goals and was on the power play. So this team's young players have, they exceeded expectations here this. season. But I think that that next group of young players is really going to float this Capitals team for a long time. And I do feel like Obie is sensing that and seeing that, and that's making maybe this decision a little bit harder. You know, it's interesting you mentioned Yarmur-Yager with Alexander Ovechkin, because you could make the argument that the reason the capitals have Ovechkin is because of Yer.

Yager, just how miserable it was. And I remember those caps, and you remember him, too, where Yager wouldn't even do line rushes with his teammates in warm-up. And like, what is going? I just sour, just miserable in Washington. Jeff, but my career, my career with the Washington Post began with the end of the 0304 season. That was the tank year, because they knew there was going to be no hockey the next year, the tank year to get OV.

Yep. The guys that played on those teams in those last seven or eight games, never played another game of pro hockey anywhere. It was, George McPhee put on a clinic of how to tank and get to where you needed to be. And then they won the lottery, and the rest is history. So Tim Murray tried to do with the Buffalo Sabres. Tim looked at George.

Oh, yeah, that's the good stuff right there. That's how you get your player. Terek, you're the best pal. Great job this year covering this. team and the coverage continues and there's draft on the horizon and free agency, etc. Continued success. We'll check back soon. Thanks, yeah.