Ted Leonsis won’t rebuild as long as Alex Ovechkin is here

With the slow start the Washington Capitals got off to, some fans thought the rebuild would start sooner rather than later. “Not so fast”, said Ted Leonsis, probably. As long is Alex Ovechkin is there and as long as he’s chasing Wayne Gretzky there will not be a rebuild.

Leonsis promised his star that their team will remain competitive while he chases the all time goals record. Even though the Caps are currently on the outside looking in as far as the playoffs go and haven’t won a playoff series since hoisting the Stanley Cup, there won’t be a rebuild anytime soon.

Leonsis spoke to Greg Wyshynski of ESPN at Palm Beach, Florida at an NHL owners meeting, saying, “I’m not gonna do what I did last time and trade everybody.”

What Leonsis is referring to was the 2003-04 season, a rare time when the owner acknowledged the art of tanking. Now he never tanks not even with the Wizards.

He does say this which is interesting and his motive for not tanking when it comes to the Caps:

“I’m sure there’ll be an influx of some young players, but we’re not gonna rebuild the team. To me, a rebuild is when you look the players, the coaches, the fans in the eye and say we’re gonna be really, really bad. And if we were really, really bad, I don’t think Alex would break the record.”

As I’m writing this, Ovechkin has two goals right now in Chicago against the Blackhawks. The first one came 24 seconds into the game while the second came on the power play. He’s now ONE away from 800.

Alex wants to break the record the right way. He doesn’t want to be a third liner that barley plays. Leonsis preached that he would take care of him and keep the team competitive.

That should make Capitals fans feel good. We won’t have to worry about a rebuild until Ovechkin hangs up his skates. By the time you read this, he could have 800 or more.