Catching Up With Brooks Laich: What It Was Like Being Alex Ovechkin's Net-Front Man & Seeing The Capitals Star Change The NHL

Brooks Laich remembers the first time he came across Alex Ovechkin.

The two were on the international stage, as Canada faced Russia in the 2003 IIHF World Junior Championships gold medal game. Laich had been well-aware of Ovechkin, 17 at the time, and what he could do, but his impact became even more apparent when he went first overall to the Washington Capitals soon after.

"I was 19, he was 17, he might've had multiple hat tricks in that tournament and was a force to be reckoned with, so he had been on my radar, obviously prior. Then the Capitals, we draft him, and it's an organizational immediate trajectory change, that draft pick," Laich, who was traded to Washington as part of the Peter Bondra trade in 2003, said. "It was such an exciting time for the NHL, not just for the Capitals. There was a transition from veterans to youth and exuberance and outstanding talent. Ovi comes in, Sid comes in.

"For the Capitals at that time, we were loaded up with Boyd Gordon, Brian Sutherby, Steve Eminger, myself, Jakub Klepis, Tomas Fleischmann, Mike Green came shortly after, Alex Semin, there was just a youth movement. It was, 'Okay, we have a bunch of tremendous young hockey players, we're going to put you all out there and let you battle it out and see who elevates.'"

Ovechkin didn't take long to burst onto the scene, picking up two goals and breaking the baords in his NHL debut in Columbus, and then finishing that season with 52 goals and 54 assists for 106 points to win the Calder Trophy.

For Laich, that star power was something that not only Washington needed, but the league as a whole did.

"Ovi came in and took the league by storm... absolutely outstanding" Laich said. "Hockey needed it at the time. We obviously had just gone through the lockout, and hockey was getting bogged down by hooking and holding and clutching and grabbing. And here comes this guy that is a game breaker ,that can break the game wide open with skill and flare and isn't shy of the spotlight. That time was a really pivotal time in the changing of hockey's trajectory, and what a joy to play alongside a rock star on ice over the next decade."

Over time, Laich's role changed with Washington, as he went from a utility player to a consistent secondary scorer who could put up 20 goals and 50 points a season. He was also vital on special teams and played the role of Ovechkin's net-front man on the power play.

Laich, a 6-foot-2 power forward, had grit and a knack for screening the goalie and scoring on deflections, though he admits being in front of Ovechkin's shot did invoke some fear — even though Ovechkin did what he could to make sure he didn't hurt Laich in the process of firing ones on goal.

"The scary ones for me were when he had had four or five or six cracks in that game and he hadn't scored. That frustration is now mounting; this is the best goal scorer ever, put it in the back of the net. That's all he's thinking," Laich said, adding, "He's just firing missiles and does not care — at least I felt that he did not care — if it hit me right in the neck or the face. He was trying to shoot this puck through the back of the net, rip the net wide open.

"He'd send one high and wide just over the net, and I'd be like, 'Oh my god.' You see him winding up — I understand my role is to be in front of that goalie so that goalie can't see this — but I'm going, 'Oh no,'"  he quipped. " I look back now and laugh, in those moments, absolutely mortified, because he could put a hole in my face. I know he's just trying to shoot one in the back of the net, but what if one just gets away on him?"

Laich still keeps in touch with Ovechkin and watched with pride as his former teammate went on to pass Wayne Gretzky as the league's all-time leading goal scorer last April. And while Laich didn't think early on in their careers that Ovechkin would come close to Gretzky, he saw the talent and goals mount, and as time went on, figured that he could very much pass the Great One.

"His raw blend of physicality, of competitiveness and of skill is unmatched in NHL history," Laich said. "That lethal combination is unmatched in NHL history... regardless of what the game of hockey did from a cycle period, Alex would score 50 goals. That was remarkable."

"I don't know if we ever thought he would do it. We just thought, 'This guy is just outstanding,' and I think he loves scoring goals more than anybody in the history of the game. It can be a backhand deflection, it can be a little poke across the goal or a highlight-reel goal, all of them hit him with the same sense of joy. In a game that's very traditionally blue-collar, unemotional, do your work, keep your head down, here was a rock star on ice that now celebrated every single moment like it was the greatest goal ever scored and it was infectious and it was wonderful to be a part of and i still love to watch him celebrate goals to this day."