Alex Ovechkin listens to Caps GM

Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin has received a lot of criticism over the years, especially considering that his team can never seem to find success in the post-season. This offseason the Russian superstar received even more criticism than usual whens fans and experts questioned his conditioning after a shirtless video of Ovi went viral at his wedding.

General manager Brian MacLellan mentioned on several occasions that his star player must adjust his game and conditioning. Ovechkin is listed at 6 foot 3 and 239-pounds. That might be too much weight for Ovi to carry given his age and the quickening pace of the NHL.

But Ovechkin seems to have listened to his GM and took his challenge seriously, and lost weight this summer, as noticed by his teammates on practice Tuesday.

"You can see he lost some weight," centre Evgeny Kuznetsov told Sportsnet. "Every year you’re trying to be better. You change something in the summer. Ovi’s like other guys, too — he wants to change something, right? It’s always nice to see when your teammates get better. They change. They try something new."

Ovechkin is clearly sending a message to his teammates and the rest of the league.