Well, sort of. Via Tarik El-Bashir.
"I fully expect Alex Ovechkin to come back into [training] camp mean as a bear," Boudreau said. "I'm sure - and it's well documented - that individually for him, he took more criticism at the end of last year for his totals in goals and points, and not being up for the Hart, and not being up for other awards."
This is begging for a photoshop of Ovechkin's head superimposed on a bear. I'd do it, but I'm awful at photoshop and don't want to embarrass myself.
Boudreau also said some important things about Ovechkin as a captain that are far more meaningful and far less humorous than comparing him to a bear.
"The whole leadership role is taking on a different [meaning] to him now," Boudreau said Sunday in St. Catharines, Ont., where the coach was hosting his 29th annual Golden Horseshoe Hockey School. "We're not all 22-year-old guys anymore. He's the captain. I think he's a great captain on the ice because no one works as hard as him, and no one wants to win more than him."
"He's going to take it a step further. That's maturity. It's not anything more than that."
This is all stuff we've heard before, but maybe it gets through next season.