Viktor Fedorov, a honoured Coach of Russia and the father of Future Hall of Famer Sergei Fedorov, recently sat down with Russian Sports Radio and explained his reasons for why he thought the Capitals failed in the first round of the playoffs against the Montreal Canadiens. Lucky for us, Sports.ru transcribed the interview and our own Fedor Fedin translated it. Let us know what you think of his opinions in the comments below!

What happened to the the team? With the team, nothing happened, the team just played. The question is: How did they actually do? Alex Semin was criticized by the newspapers, but I think that he doesn’t have a good center. Alex Ovechkin played with Nicklas Backstrom, a very skilled forward, who earned a lot of points in the regular season. But the regular season and the playoffs are two very different things.

The absence of Sergei Fedorov was a problem, but not the main one. When Seryozha left the Capitals I said that the team would have issues. They signed Morrison and Knuble, but Sergey is a different player. And you can’t say that the former Canuck Morrison is a star.

Washington did not have a good centerman. Backstrom is not too bad, especially in the regular season, he helped Ovechkin, but Montreal played very skillfully against them. Ovechkin in a couple of games did not have a single shot on goal.

I think, the Capitals need a winger as well. Viktor Kozlov, for example, would be helpful in the season and even more in the playoffs.

With the recent revelations that Nicklas Backstrom dislocated his shoulder in Game 3, Victor’s comments don’t seem too out of line. But what do you think? After reading what he said, do you agree? What do the Capitals need to do next year to improve at center? Was being without Sergei Fedorov this year a major detriment to the team? Discuss below, RMNB’ers!