Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals poses with the Richard Trophy after winning the award for top goal-scorer, at the NHL Awards on Tuesday, June 24, 2014, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals spoke with Pavel Lysenkov of SovSport recently for another wide-ranging interview, one that covered everything from his injury at the world championships to asking Vladimir Putin for cars as gifts for his teammates to dealing with another new coach in D.C.

Oh, and he also addressed his problem with plus/minus.

Here’s the interview; the Russian language version is here.

Q. After a disappointing season the Capitals started cleaning the house, and the head coach Adam Oates and the general manager George McPhee were let go, you said ‘It’s good that I wasn’t kicked out.’ Is this even possible? Ovechkin is the symbol of the city. You were given keys to the city!

OVECHKIN: “This is business. Right now we are sitting, and suddenly I will get a call: ‘Man, you have been traded to another team.’ And I just bought a house, and haven’t made it my own yet.”

And what to do with the house then? Sell it?

“Why? I will keep it. I like living in Washington.”

One of the first things the Pittsburgh Penguins’ new coach Mike Johnston did was to fly to Moscow to visit Evgeni Malkin. Have you met with the new head coach of the Capitals Barry Trotz yet?

“Yes, in Las Vegas. I know it already that I have to carry Washington forward. But it’s not like all the pressure falls on one person. We also have Backstrom, Laich, Holtby – everyone needs to be a united fist.”

Have you spoken with Alexander Radulov about Trotz who coached him in Nashville?

“Not yet. But I will certainly talk to Alex, will find out his opinion is.”

[This is what Radulov would say, actually]

Once Trotz caught Radulov in a late night bar benching him for a play off game. The scandal was huge. Are you scared of going to a bar now?

“Listen, we are all grown up people. And experienced. What’s to be scared of? We’re not living in the 70s.”

It seems that Trotz is similar to Dale Hunter, who made Ovechkin play defense and you had your worst career season.

“We will see how it turns out. What can I say now? When Adam Oates came to the club, and everyone started saying that Ovechkin will play on the right wing. It was difficult to change yourself. And with every new coach it is a rebuild. A person with his own tactics, vision on the game.”

Washington acquired two quality defensemen from Pittsburgh.

“The defense was out Achilles’ heel before. Now it became good. [Brooks] Orpik and [Matt] Niskanen came, but we also have Green, Orlov, Alzner, Carlson. I think this is one of the best defenses in the NHL.”

In the NBA it is accepted that stars such as Lebron or Carmelo can tell the coach about the tactics and the teammates they want to play with. Is this accepted in Washington?

“I have not one spoken to the new general manager yet. But I am sure that we will talk when I get back to America. McPhee? We did talk about those things with him. My opinion was of interest.”

Is Evgeny Kuznetsov capable of winning the Calder Trophy?

“Yes, of course! If he plays his game. I have always been telling Evgeny that.”

Has the cast been removed from Dmitry Orlov’s hand?

“I don’t think so. He will only recover to the start of the season. This is the price of the World Championship in Minsk for you. I have just recovered myself.”

Can you reveal the secret what injury you sustained in the game against Germany?

“A knee ligaments tear.”

And why did you continue playing in the tournament? It was a risk.

“We did some X-rays, sent them to Washington. At first I thought: ‘That’s it. My cruciate ligaments are done.’ But thank God, nothing serious. It was just a tear. I was lucky. That’s why I decided to keep playing. Because I could.”

What feeling were you left with after last season?

“I am very happy that I didn’t become the worst in the plus/minus category. I had minus-35. Steve Ott and Alex Edler jumped ahead of me. Can you imagine scoring 51 goals and getting minus-40? I would have made history!”

At one time Sergei Gonchar spoke very negatively about the plus/minus thinking it was not objective.

“With the help of the plus/minus contracts can be obtained. Once our defenseman Jeff Schultz was plus-50. He was plus-5 in the last game. And he signed a contract for four years averaging $2.75 million [Ovechkin makes big eyes]. And then his contract was bought out, and he signed for only $700,000 a year. Jeff is a good guy. But these plus/minus stats say very little about a player himself or the game as a whole.”

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