Ovechkin 'has earned the right to his fun,' Lindsay says

Ted Lindsay never strolled through a Las Vegas casino cradling the Stanley Cup in his arms. The 92-year-old Detroit Red Wings legend never danced in the electro-thump of a nightclub, the trophy pressed overhead.
Lindsay never celebrated winning the Cup by doing the breaststroke fully clothed in a public fountain, nor guzzled from it while being dunked into the silver chalice, dipped into it while being held by the ankles by teammates.

But that doesn't mean Lindsay, a Stanley Cup-winning forward with Detroit in 1950, 1952, 1954 and 1955, hasn't gotten a kick out of the antics of Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin, who has done all of the above and a whole lot more in the past week.

The Stanley Cup was the only essential jewel missing in Ovechkin's crown. In 2005-06, the Capitals captain was voted winner of the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie. Seven times, including this season, he has won the Rocket Richard Trophy as the NHL's leading goal-scorer. He's a three-time winner of the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player and won the Art Ross Trophy once as the NHL's leading point-scorer.
Last week, at long last, Ovechkin won the Stanley Cup and, as a bonus, the Conn Smythe Trophy, awarded to the MVP of the postseason.
"Alex has earned the right to his fun," Lindsay said Wednesday from his Detroit-area home. "He's just won the Stanley Cup and I think he realizes the meaning of that championship. He's as good as anyone in the NHL today. Alex is an honest hockey player who gives you the same effort every night. There are different ways to judge talent: Do you produce every night, or only when you think you should?"
Ovechkin and Lindsay have the every-night work ethic in common, and a strong link beyond that. In 2010, the Russia-born forward was named winner of the Ted Lindsay Award, voted on annually by members of the NHL Players' Association to the man deemed to be the MVP of the regular season.

The award was created in 1971 as the Lester B. Pearson Award, named for a former Canadian prime minister; Ovechkin won the Pearson in 2008 and 2009, then followed that with his natural hat trick in 2010 when he was awarded the newly named Ted Lindsay Award.
Only Hall of Famers Guy Lafleur of the Montreal Canadiens (1976-78) and Wayne Gretzky of the Edmonton Oilers (1982-85) have won the award three or more times consecutively.
Oilers forward Connor McDavid won the Lindsay Award last season and is a finalist for the award at the 2018 NHL Awards presented by Hulu, to be staged June 20 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. His fellow finalists are forwards Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche and Taylor Hall of the New Jersey Devils.

"I'm honored that Alex has won the award three times," Lindsay said. "And I'm happy that he's finally won the Stanley Cup.
"I appreciate him very much, as I do the all of these players today. It's altogether a different game than when I played. I don't maybe agree with today's game completely, but I certainly recognize the talent of these players."
Lindsay has attended the NHL Awards every year since 2010 to present his trophy, never wanting to know beforehand who had won. Like everyone else -- and because he didn't trust himself to keep a secret -- he wanted to be surprised when the winner's name was pulled from the envelope.

But Lindsay won't attend the NHL Awards this year, the grind of travel tougher and more physically taxing by the year. Instead, he'll be watching the gala from the comfort of his home, without the need to navigate airports and the glitz of The Strip.
For one thing, Las Vegas isn't Lindsay's kind of town.
"I'm not a gambler to begin with. I've worked too hard for my money, I can't afford to waste it," he said with a grin in his Las Vegas hotel suite last June, awaiting the arrival of his room-service breakfast of granola and tea.
(And here we all thought "Terrible Ted," as he was nicknamed as a player, ate broken glass and nails to begin his day. During a 17-season, 1,068-game career -- 14 seasons with the Red Wings, three with the Chicago Black Hawks - Lindsay won the 1949-50 Art Ross Trophy and rolled up 1,808 penalty minutes, the equivalent of 30 games in the penalty box.)

"I didn't think I'd ever mention this, but I'm getting up there in years, heading toward my mid-90s," Lindsay said. "But I feel very strongly that I still should support my game. It provided me with my livelihood, thanks to the blessing of talent the Lord gave me."
His energy and resolve remain ferociously strong for his Ted Lindsay Foundation, founded in 2001 to raise funds to support research and educational programs, focusing on the cause and management of autism spectrum disorders.
Lindsay says he will applaud the winner of his award, and hopes he and the recipient will have a chance to soon speak and be photographed together. He says he'll contribute to the game he adores as long as his health and energy permit.
He is flattered to this day there's a major award named for him; players who receive it are in awe of having their names engraved alongside Lindsay's.
"When you win the award that I'm honored to have named for me, it tells you that your fellow players consider you the greatest player in the world, bar none," Lindsay said. "There have been a lot of great guys to go before and after Alex Ovechkin, and the rest. Each of them has been worthy of representing the NHL and the class of the game, which is the greatest game in the world."