The Washington Capitals playoffs came to a quick end this year as the New York Rangers handily defeated them in four games. Star winger Alex Ovechkin received a lot of criticism for his performance in the series, including one special comment from John Buccigross. The NHL insider effectively called out Ovi for not living the lifestyle of an elite professional athlete. He says that the superstar needs to be on a more strict diet and way more into his fitness and nutrition routine. He even went as far as to say that he simply needs to lose some weight. <q>Time for Ovi to embrace fitness/nutrition. Drop 15-20. He's got 5 months until opening night. 3-4 pounds a month. Work on his skating. Hire a chef and trainer and go all in. Rent ice like Kucherov. Big things can happen with small improvements</q> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/Buccigross/status/1785322138200584594'> </a></blockquote></div> These comments are not entirely unfair. Ovechkin had many poor moments in the short playoff series with the Rangers, including this particularly brutal turnover in the neutral zone when he had plenty of time and space to do something with thew puck. <q>Alex Ovechkin with an absolutely brutal turnover in the neutral zone on this play. The guy just isn't the same</q> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/jjmid04/status/1782935180040130857'> </a></blockquote></div> At the end of the day, when we look at the score sheet, its as if Ovechkin wasn't even playing in the series at all. He recorded zeros across the board, including in goals and points. Furthermore, he recorded just 5 shots on goal. He averaged nearly four shots on goal per game in the regular season. <q>Alex Ovechkin this Playoffs: � 0 goals � 0 assists � 0 points � 0 wins � 0 PIMS This isn't 2018 Ovechkin anymore.</q> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/BigHeadHcky/status/1784794911981842749'> </a></blockquote></div> Hopefully, Ovechkin makes at least a partial return to form next season. As it stands, he is just 42 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time goal record. But if he plays next season the way he did in the playoffs this year, he might fall short of the target after all. Source: HockeyFeed <a href='https://www.hockeyfeed.com/nhl-news/nhl-insider-to-alex-ovechkin-lose-weight?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1o1LiYJ7VVQ_GW0flnEyGXvp2ZmTSprox0S8EXmbcU48m6NqnjBbDZ3KA_aem_Ac39rmdvqxxk5TVAb2tJqYeFN_DEQDq5recXO6MFoKd1lLWVuhD6E6VpO3SJBeLRePEzG3-xO1JjlNbt1qupw7lF' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>NHL Insider to Alex Ovechkin: Lose weight</a>