This is not about pinning all the blame on Ovechkin or trading the Russian star. But something has to give, either in the week-and-a-half to come, or immediately after the Olympic break, for the Caps to salvage this season. That said, a playoff berth wouldn’t and shouldn’t be an excuse for ownership to avoid serious changes. Head coach Adam Oates should be the last to be blamed and Washington’s current core and GM George McPhee should be among the first.

Maybe Ovechkin can win a gold medal in Sochi and use it as a rocket booster for the second half of the Capitals’ year. But maybe the mental and physical toll of playing for his country make this situation more dire. In either case, there’s no good reason for continued patience with Washington’s roster. The sample size is big enough, long enough, and doggone it, more and more people don’t like it.

-Adam Proteau of The Hockey News where you can read more about the Capitals (Ovechkin was -5 last night in a 5-2 loss to Columbus).