A great day for the Capitals

Ovechkin, Capitals Agree To Deal

Alexander Ovechkin agreed to a 13-year, $124 million contract extension with the Capitals on Thursday. The former Calder Trophy winner was in the final year of a three-year, entry-level deal.

(Thanks to espn.com/nhl for this.)

Washington Capital fans, rejoice. Alex Ovechkin isn't going anywhere for a long, long time.

This spells disaster for the Southeast Division who, under the current scheduling system (which should change next season), sees the mighty AO 32 times in an 82 game season. Ovechkin has torched every single team in the Southeast and will continue to do so for years to come. This is a great deal for Washington and its fans...

...in the short term. What happens when in 4 or 5 years Ovechkin gets injured and sits for half a season? What happens when, as some stars do, AO cools down and he becomes just another name in a long list of scoring stats?

The problem with these super long term deals, as I see it anyway, is that there are so many variables that can happen at any point down the road. Rick DiPietro's 15-year contract with the New York Islanders, Mike Richards 12-year deal with the Philadelphia Flyers, and now Ovechkin's 13-year deal with the Capitals. (I'm not sure that when people sign these contracts that they truly acknowledge just how long they are. DiPietro will be in his 40's when his contract runs out and Richards and Ovechkin will be in their mid to late 30's.) While all three players are truly wonderful athletes and (currently) assets to their teams, it cannot be healthy to anyone to sign players to such long contracts. If Ovechkin gets hurt or simply doesn't play as well, the Capitals will be stuck paying him an outrageous amount of money for a long, long time. In fact, because of that, these superstar players suddenly have no more motivation to give their game their all. Why bother when in the end, you're still getting paid insane amounts of money?

Deals like this hurt the team. Selfish players can break the team and your wallet. So can injuries. The same situation applies to injuries. DiPietro has been hurt quite a bit this season already and has missed a number of games. The team's owners are still paying him countless millions anyway. This hurts the team because whether or not he plays, he counts against the salary cap. These long term deals, which most often include no-trade clauses for the players, make it impossible to keep core players around long enough to make a legitimate run for the playoffs or for Lord Stanley's Cup. Players demand millions more than they currently make after having good seasons. If they don't get that from their native team, they go elsewhere.

These players aren't worth this much money either. DiPietro with a 15yr/$67 million deal, Richards with a 12yr/$62 million (?) deal, and Ovechkin with a 13yr/$124 million deal. Are athletes... or really anyone... really worth this much money? No. It's obscene. It does nothing but hurt you in the long run.