Alex Ovechkin is one of hockey’s greatest left wings. So, eyebrows began to raise when Ovechkin took several shifts on the right wing during the first day of Training Camp on Thursday.
The switch even escaped Dylan Strome, Ovechkin’s most regular center last season and linemate again on Thursday. When asked about the position swap, Strome was puzzled and couldn’t confirm it. He said he didn’t notice and assumed Ovechkin was always to his left and Andrew Mangiapane to his right.
Head coach Spencer Carbery eventually cleared the air and revealed that Ovechkin took shifts on both sides. The second-year bench boss says the team discussed Ovechkin playing on the right this season.
“We’ve talked about it,” Carbery said. “We’ll see how it works through camp. We’ll look at a few different things.”
Ovechkin playing on the right side isn’t an entirely foreign idea. The Great Eight spent most of two seasons as a right wing when Adam Oates was head coach of the Capitals from 2012-2014. Oates was insistent that his players play on their natural-handed side despite Ovechkin’s immense prior success as a right-handed left wing.
The big Russian won the Rocket Richard Trophy in both seasons and the Hart Trophy as league MVP in 2013. He even made the postseason NHL All-Star teams as both a left wing and a right wing due to some voters’ confusion about his actual position.
However, the Capitals did not find team success under Oates, and Ovechkin did not look comfortable on the right side. Instead, he did much of his damage on the power play from his office, scoring 40 of his 83 goals across those two seasons with Washington up a man.
Oates was fired after the Capitals missed the playoffs in 2013, and Ovechkin quickly returned to his typical left side after Barry Trotz was subsequently hired ahead of the 2014-15 season. Ovechkin has not moved back to the right side since then.
Ivan Miroshnichenko, another natural left wing who shoots right-handed, also played on the right side of his line on Thursday. The 20-year-old winger was placed in a trio with Sonny Milano and Mike Sgarbossa.
Miroshnichenko played some right wing with the Hershey Bears in the AHL last season and took some shifts on the right side of Ovechkin’s line in the NHL. The prospect winger following in Ovechkin’s footsteps has become a theme in his young career as he uses his idol’s sticks and hangs out with him away from the ice.
