Trotz on 'coachable' Ovechkin: 'All of the things ... said about him have been the exact opposite'

NHL superstars are always torn down until they've won, and throughout his career Washington Capitals super sniper Alex Ovechkin has received the same treatment. Whether he's too flashy, doesn't try hard enough on defense or isn't a team guy, there's always something to criticize - even when he's in the midst of authoring yet another 50-plus goal season.

Ovechkin's latest head coach, Barry Trotz, had heard the stories, but now that he's had an up-close look at the Capitals' captain, he's pretty confident it's mostly nonsense.

"For all of the questions I took when I got this job, right through the summer and training camp, I have to be honest and say I wasn’t too sure what was going to happen,” Trotz admitted to USA Today. "But he has been very coachable, and he’s been excellent as a captain and a person.

"All of the things that were said about him have been the exact opposite."

That's high praise for a player Trotz described as having "too much glide in his game" upon taking the coaching job this past Spring. 

In Trotz's first week on the job the Capitals have yet to lose in regulation, and Ovechkin has managed four goals and five points in the first three games of the season. Or in other words he's just been doing his usual Ovechkin things.

Also, and perhaps most importantly to Ovechkin's many misguided critics, he's got an even plus/minus rating. 

So far so good in Washington, D.C.