At least Boudreau will have an easier time filling the lineup card for a few games

Excerpts from Tuesday's Alex Ovechkin-centric online Q&A:

Haven't heard anything from Ovechkin's teammates on the suspension. Any vibes from the players?

Dan Steinberg: I have lots of quotes, sure. I could use them if you want. Mostly, they say what you'd expect: He plays hard, doesn't want to hurt anybody, feels bad, etc. These guys are pretty good about not popping off, though. There will be plenty more chances for them to talk about Alex over the course of this season.

Despite the fact that it was a totally bogus suspension, I'm actually kind of happy with it. The Caps played better Sunday than they have since the Olympic break.

It also lessens by one Bruce Boudreau's daily lineup conundrum. You figure eventually an injury will do the same thing, but with a remarkably healthy roster right now, there are NHL-caliber guys getting scratched every single game.

What a lot of people are missing is that it is always a dangerous play to hit someone from behind 6-to-8 feet from the boards. C'mon folks, the best player in the world simply should know better!

During two hours at the rink, I talked about the hit with or listened to other people talk about it at least 10 or 12 times. Media, coaches, players. And there's just no consensus, among die-hard hockey people.

Here's something I don't think you can question: what teammate Mike Knuble said on Monday about a lot of "things happening around" Ovechkin. If you could find a way to still have Ovechkin be Ovechkin without "things happening," if that makes sense, that would be better for everyone. And yes, people will always, always, always get injured in a contact sport like hockey, but at some point there is a trend. Not towards dirtiness, necessarily -- that's one of the subjective parts -- but towards "things happening," certainly.

At least 10 hockey players, and I'm not exaggerating, have said something like, "If you make Alex back off, do you diminish his entire game?" People don't know the answers.

Where is the accountability for [NHL disciplinarian] Colin Campbell? Who does he answer to?

Obviously he answers to Commissioner Gary Bettman and others in the league offices. The Toronto Star's Damien Cox made a really interesting argument that Bettman should wipe Campbell's role away and do the discipline himself, at least for the big decisions like this. It's hard to imagine he's not involved, anyhow; take the heat, and explain what is being done and why.

I really wanted to keep my mouth shut. My wife and I are both Russian and huge Caps fans. I have to say that it's clear that the NHL has a hatred toward Russian players. There, I said it.

I find it easier to criticize a few Canadian media outlets for their Ovechkin coverage than to say that the NHL hates him, or all Russians. I mean, I know that Caps fans are convinced the NHL promotes Sidney Crosby to the detriment of Ovechkin, but if the league actually "hated" Russians, wouldn't they also promote, I don't know, Rick Nash to the detriment of Ovechkin? He gets the second most love from the league on virtually everything, and he keeps them relevant in D.C., and in many more markets.