The Washington Capitals were officially eliminated from making a playoff spot this season on Tuesday night. It’s a strange position for this team, which has made the postseason every year since 2014 and is now set to complete their worst season in 16 years.

Captain Alex Ovechkin spoke to the media on Thursday, giving his first comments on the team’s elimination. This season marks only the second time during Ovechkin’s captaincy that the team failed to make the playoffs.

The 37-year-old Ovechkin refuted assertions that he was physically struggling compared to earlier years. After a long and difficult season, however, Ovechkin admitted that the prospect of finishing out a now-meaningless campaign was hard to face.

“Physical I feel the same,” Ovechkin said. “Mentally, when you’re not in the playoffs it’s kind of hard. Those five games is going to be hard mentally because you basically fighting for nothing. But we’re professionals, we understand we still have to play for fans and for you guys, so you can write something.”

Ovechkin agreed that the season’s injuries had taken a toll on the team, with many key players out for large swaths of the season. Still, much like head coach Peter Laviolette, Ovechkin refused to blame the season on missing players alone.

“It was a hard year with all those situations, injuries, but I don’t think it’s an excuse because different players step up, they have to play as hard as they could and [have to] win,” he said.

Instead, the Capitals captain blames on-ice performance. Though the team’s tailspin truly began after they went on a heater in December, Ovechkin traced his team’s failures back to the beginning of the year, which forced them into a last-minute chase in March.

“I think we was in a rhythm all the time,” he said. Sometimes it’s just a situation where we win a couple games, different teams win a couple games, and that kind of space between teams stay the same.

“I’m always saying, beginning of the year, the first 10 games you have to collect as many points as you can just to [avoid] what happen in the end of the year, so you don’t have to catch someone to make the playoffs.”

The Capitals have five remaining games in the season; their final game will be on April 13th against the New Jersey Devils. The team will then have over five months to recover before returning to the ice.

Ovechkin was asked whether the team’s long offseason could prove positive for their performance in the fall.

“Of course,” he replied, “but you want that break to be short as possible. Right now we’re going to have lots of time to think about, lots of time to get ready for the year.

“Hopefully everybody’s going to be healthy, hopefully everybody’s going to be on the same page. We’re going to be better next year.”

Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB