On January 23, Alexander Ovechkin was suspended for three games for a hit to the head on Zbynek Michalek in Washington's game the previous night against Pittsburgh. In a season that has been overwhelmed with a plethora of suspensions, a mere three-game suspension seems small. But this suspension seems to be part of a larger story, which is the fading away of Ovechkin as a star performer.

It's amazing if you think about it. Ovechkin is below a point-pergame as of the suspension, with 20 goals and 39 points in 47 games. This is the former Art Ross Trophy winner who has had four previous 100-plus point seasons in the NHL and four 50-plus goal seasons, including career-high 65 goals in 2007/08. He's only on track for 34 goals and 67 points this season if he keeps up his current pace.

What happened to Ovechkin? He turns 27 this year. Is he past his prime? At that age, he should really be entering the prime years of his hockey career. Perhaps something is amiss in Washington. The team has failed to perform in the post-season since being built into a regular season powerhouse upon Ovechkin's shoulders. This year, they don't even have the regular season muscle, as they are fighting for a playoff spot rather than fighting for first in the Eastern Conference.

It's a bit of a chicken-and-egg question, as one wonders if the decline of the team's fortunes is at least partially caused by Ovechkin's declining performance, or if it is Ovechkin's performance that is being affected by a decline in the team's fortunes. Ovechkin is not the only player on the Caps who is underperforming. Mike Green, one of the best offensive defencemen has been out with a groin injury since November, and the streaky Alexander Semin is barely on track for a 20-goal, 50- point season after hovering around a point-per-game the last few years.

Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau was sacked in November, as the team brought in London's own Dale Hunter, himself a former Washington captain. Boudreau got much of the blame for Washington's underperformance this year, but was he really to blame? Often the coach is an easy scapegoat. Ovechkin isn't the player he was in previous years. His decline reminds a bit of midcareer Teemu Selänne, a guy who was incredible his first few seasons in the league, and then declined to become only a moderate offensive threat before mounting a latecareer comeback.

With Ovechkin underwhelming and Sidney Crosby virtually unable to play, comparisons of Ovechkin and Crosby to Lemieux and Gretzky seem farfetched these days. When both of these guys came in the league in 2005, they looked like the cornerstones of the new generation of NHL players. We're only seven years later, and they are looking like something far less than that due to inconsistency and injury, respectively.