``Of course it's hard (to) realize you're getting older. And, of course, you always want to be 24, 23 years old,'' Ovechkin said. ``But it's impossible. So you just move on.''
Eventually embracing the shift from left to right wing at the behest of rookie coach Adam Oates, Ovechkin led the Capitals into the postseason for the sixth consecutive time last spring. What also happened to Ovechkin and Washington for the sixth consecutive time: a first- or second-round exit.

``You can't say, like, `We're going to win the Stanley Cup. Of course, we would love to win the Stanley Cup. ... We're going to try to do it,'' Ovechkin said. ``But we just have to play every game like it's (our) last game.''
Very little has changed about the roster in the four-plus months since a 5-0 home loss in Game 7 of Washington's first-round series against the New York Rangers. Ask around the organization about what the expectations or aims should be for the Capitals during the 2013-14 season and, not surprisingly, the responses will vary.
Owner Ted Leonsis just hopes his team doesn't take for granted that it will reach the playoffs.
General manager George McPhee said: ``The objective always is to make the playoffs to give yourself a chance. And we'd love to go deep, and we'd love to win a cup.''
And forward Brooks Laich made quite clear his feeling that no one associated with the club should be satisfied by merely making it deeper into the playoffs than the Capitals have in the recent past.

``We're not looking to just get through the second round. If we do that and we go home ... after the third round, we're not going home and patting ourselves on the back,'' Laich said. ``The expectation within that locker room is to win the Stanley Cup.''
The Capitals open at the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 1.

``It wasn't pleasant,'' Panthers captain Ed Jovanovski said.
One disaster after another - injuries and scoring droughts, mostly - plagued Florida last season, and the Panthers haven't forgotten. When camp opened earlier this month, the Panthers talked of both a need to move ahead but the necessity to remember how painful it was to be out of the playoff chase so early last season.

``I think we all pretty well know that we don't want to have another disaster like last year,'' Panthers general manager Dale Tallon said. ``Guys are professional. They should be able to figure it out and if they don't figure it out, I'll figure it out for them.''
Panthers coach Kevin Dineen said his team cannot ignore the memory of last season's freefall. Not counting goals awarded in shootouts, Florida skaters scored 109 times last year, tied with Nashville for the worst total in the league.

``We had to acknowledge what happened as a group. We had to understand that there was ownership by all of us, from the GM to the coaching to the players and I think we all did that,'' Dineen said. ``I think the commitment was made to be better. There's been some hard decisions made this summer ... but we need to put a team and a style of that gives us the best chance to win.''
Changes were made, such as letting longtime Florida forward Stephen Weiss leave through free agency, and bringing Stanley Cup-winning goaltender Tim Thomas into the organization as a veteran influence. Thomas and Jacob Markstrom figure to get the bulk of the work in net early.