AS I SEE IT COLUMN: The NHL must ban Alex Ovechkin

In 2022 when Russia illegally invaded Ukraine, some hockey commentators were calling for the NHL to ban Washington Capital’s star Alexander Ovechkin.

While other Russian players in the NHL sought to position themselves as being against the war, even in opaque, indirect ways, Ovechkin never did.

He is buddy-buddy with Russian president Vladmir Putin, possibly the only person on earth who is a worse human being than fake Christian and convicted felon Donald Trump. Ovechkin and Putin chum around and play charity hockey games together. (Go look online for clips of Putin playing hockey. When he has the puck the opposing defensemen part like Moses at the Red Sea and the goaltender lets Putin score in the way a parent lets a young child score. It’s beyond embarrassing, or at least it should be.)

In Russia’s recently completed elections, Ovechkin showed up in Putin’s campaign ads. The NHL’s leading scorer was actively promoting someone convincingly accused of being a war criminal.

Dominik Hašek– someone who, in his heyday, truly earned his title as the best goalie in the world, unlike Mr. American Holdout Connor Hellebuyck, who is laughably given that title when he is frequently not even the best goalie on Portage Avenue – is not happy that a high profile NHLer was actively working to get Putin re-elected.

“It will cost many, many lives. And it’s sad,” said Hašek to the CBC. “It will prolong the war. Every commercial like that, it’s very sad. It’s a sad commercial for the Russian imperialist war and for the biggest criminal of the war, Putin.”

Apparently the Hall of Fame goaltender isn’t shy stating his political views. In February earlier this year, Hašek expressed his support for the U.S. Women’s hockey team turning down Trump’s invitation to the White House (unlike Connor Hellebuyck and the men’s team), saying “Yes, your president is a big liar and a fraud who abuses his position to insult and bully his fellow citizens.”

There are some reports that Ovechkin isn’t really a fan of Putin, and that the only reason Ovechkin agreed to appear in Putin’s campaign ad is because Putin has threatened Ovechkin’s family.

Horse pucky.

In his 20 plus years in the NHL Ovechkin has earned over $200,000,000 (CDN). That is more than enough time and way more than enough money for him to get all of his loved ones out of Russia.

Clearly Ovechkin likes Putin. Clearly Ovechkin has no issue with illegal wars, the bombing of hospitals and schools (which constitute war crimes), the killing of innocent civilians and the stealing of another country’s sovereign territory.

Let that reality sink in. The greatest goal scorer in NHL history is close friends and actively campaigned for someone credibly accused of committing war crimes.

Criminal Trump should ban Ovechkin from entering the U.S., but of course he won’t because Trump also is besties with Putin. Trump admires Putin. Trump wants to be like Putin and rule over America the way Putin rules over Russia.

Because Trump won’t do anything, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman must ban the Putin cheerleader from the league. And if neither of those things happen, Prime Minister Carney needs to bar Ovechkin from setting foot in Canada.

And if none of those actions are taken, every sane, sentient hockey fan in every NHL city with any shred of humanity in their DNA must mercilessly and loudly boo Ovechkin every time he touches the puck. The media should immediately stop interviewing him and start treating him as a pariah, as someone with less than no morals, as a persona non grata.

If they do interview him, every opening question has to be something like “How can you support someone accused of committing crimes against humanity?”, followed by “How do you sleep at night having campaigned for someone who is responsible for so much death and destruction?”

Ovechkin shouldn’t be celebrated; He should be ostracized.