Photo by Dani Ist Toll

Although the Washington Capitals got an early exit from the NHL playoffs, its likely they wouldn’t have even reached the post-season without the efforts of their team captain, Alex Ovechkin. The seventh-year winger won the Hart Memorial Trophy, which is given each year to the NHL’s most valuable player.

The award is the third for Ovechkin, who led the Capitals into the playoffs after the team started the lockout-shortened season in the basement of the Southeast division but rallied to make it back to the top. In the season’s 48 games, Ovechkin led the NHL with 32 goals, and was tied for third in points.

The Washington Post writes that Ovechkin’s latest accolade should further solidify his relationship with the Capitals’ first-year coach, Adam Oates:

There is no greater tenet in Oates’s coaching philosophy than that of steady, deliberate improvement, and Ovechkin is no exception. Oates believes the winger has plenty of untapped potential within his game. Now that he has built a strong, trusting relationship with Ovechkin, Oates believes it may be easier to convey those directives and wants to ensure that the captain doesn’t grow stagnant.

“He’s one of the best players in the world, he should be up for that award every year,” Oates said Saturday in a phone interview. “I think now he understands I’ve got his back, I’m coming from the right place and I’m here to help him and help the team. I think we can just keep growing together along with everybody. Everybody’s got to improve, and it sure helps that process when your best player is willing to improve.”

In the mean time, Ovechkin is recovering from a fracture in his left foot he sustained in Game 6 of the Capitals’ first-round series against the New York Rangers. (He still played in Game 7, and then in the World Hockey Championship in Sweden, following the injury.)