Last season, months before any Calder Trophy ceremony, a wise and veteran set of hockey eyes told me that it was imperative that Caps' management deliver Alexander Ovechkin to the playoffs as soon as humanly possible. As in, in year two of the rebuild. His premise was simple and reasonable: you do not allow 50-goal, glass rattling dynamos to sit as audience to the NHL's crapshoot postseason. For years. Exiting Verizon Center last night, I thought about my father's argument of a year ago, and today as then I disagree. But the question is an intriguing one: does Caps' management have this obligation by virtue merely of Alexander Ovechkin's once-in-a-generation, never-before-seen-in-D.C. set of gifts, or is the responsibility for earning the postseason more a shared burden, to be earned also on the ice, only through painful lessons like last night's, by the clearly annointed?

It's becoming abundantly clear in season two of the Era of Ovechkin that we'll see no postseason this spring. It's disappointing, but it's also ok.

Our first hint that young #8 wasn't ready for the heavy burden of leading a young roster into the postseason arrived late last summer, when management bypassed his captain's candidacy in favor of Chris Clark's. Our second set of evidence arrived at Verizon Center last night, in the game's waning minutes, with the Caps clinging to a 2-1 lead in a must-win game with the Bs. Under no serious duress in his own end, Ovechkin carelessly sent a clearing attempt into the stands, and his team to shortheanded stress. Moments later, the game was tied, and not long after that, a vital standings point was squandered.

Ovechkin refused to speak with the press afterward, but teammate Brooks Laich did. Good teams, Laich said, clamp down and run out the clock in such situations.

The victory stew, we learned last night, is still marinating.

The tired old refrain of "throw millions at the [losing] problem" was freshly "I told you so-ed" by an MSM usual suspect late last month, and it's entirely possible that 5 or 6 million more in payroll might have pushed the Caps into eighth in the East this season. But it's crystal clear who is expected to lead this team in the playoffs, and right now he's not ready for the duty. Millions more dollars won't change that.

Particularly painful for Caps' fans this February is the leadership ascension of that other young phenom from draft class '04. Ten games above .500 and in fifth place in the East this morning, the Penguins are being willed into the postseason by the Hart Trophy-lock from Halifax.

An important battle, seemingly, has been lost. The larger war, however, has a lot of fight still to be waged.