Postives.

Exactly.

The average career of an NHL player, as per my research, is about 7 years (and the average career of a goalie is even shorter, for the record).

I understand wanting to 'lock up' key players. That you're starting each season for the next 13 years down $10 million in cap-dollars is your prerogative. But the most WTF-y thing, in my opinion, is that odds are Ovechkin won't even be playing that long. And hell, even if he is, he'll have long since reached his peak and started declining by the time that contract is up.

This isn't as ludicrous as paying a goalie (who has already shown a tendency toward injuries) a 15-year contract when the most games any goalie has ever appeared in ever is 1029, the equivalent of 12.5 seasons. Betting DeePee will play the most games a goalie has ever played ever, ever is crazier than betting Ovechkin will get halfway to Gordie Howe's 26 seasons, but is still kind of... well, stupid.

Though, in Washington's defense, that last uber-long-term-expensive contract they signed worked out really well.