I am not sure what Mr. Stinson expected from the NHL or Ovechkin. Ovechkin’s apparent support for Putin is odious, of course, but the NHL cannot kick him out of the league for that. That he is on the cusp of breaking the Gretzky’s record is almost unbelievable. Maybe we can push the politics aside in order to enjoy a remarkable event in hockey history. Maybe?
Aaaah, the good ole' reductio ad hitlerum. Whatever you think of Putin, he is not anywhere near Hitler's league.
A despicable despot, but you can't compare. Should we then refuse to do business with any citizen of a country who's ruled by a despot?
Individuals can and should stand on their own merit. Judge them for who they are, not what passport they carry.
As for supporting Putin, the evidence seems weak. Someone in his position would certainly have to rub elbows with his country's leaders and put on a brave face doing so.
Unless he explicitly endorsed and supported the war in Ukraine, you can't blame the guy for playing along.
I too wish more people stood up for something like Enes Kanter Freedom, but he's a hockey player who wants to play with a puck.
Judging him through a political activist lens is missing the point.
"As for supporting Putin, the evidence seems weak."
Stop being willfully ignorant, have some intellectual honesty, and stop making excuses for a grown-ass man. Ovi has publicly supported Putin for years, and to this day his profile photo on Instagram is of him and Putin. He's spoken about "saving Russian children from Fascism", which is explicit Kremlin propaganda about Ukraine and used to justify the Russian state kidnapping thousands of Ukrainian children.
Of course he’s not in Hitler’s “league”. He’s a junior player in the rape, murder and conquest game compared to Hitler. There’s a big difference of degree there.
But it IS a difference of degree, not of kind so it’s a valid comparison not reductio anything.
So we have an NHL star supporting and carrying water for junior tryouts Hitler and not actual Hitler.
Our grandfathers would have had the stones to give both the boot rather than throwing money at them.
It’s offensive to the interned Canadians that you would make that comparison.
Mr. Ovechkin is an outspoken supporter of Putin
Your comment is offensive to the interned Canadians because implies that all the innocent Canadians of Japanese descent were locked up were supporters of imperial Japan.
The people we interned were targeted because of their ethnicity. Mr. Ovechkin’s race has nothing to do with this. His support of Putin and the Putin regime is what matters.
The Japanese were all painted with the same brush. Women and children were relocated as well as the men, regardless of political afilliations.
While Italian Canadians may have been distrusted or treated unfairly during the war, the actual incarceration was limited to about 600 adult men who were accused of being fascist supporters (of the over 3,100 Italian Canadian fascist supporters identified by the police). This included Italian sailors in port at the time the Italian government declared war. They did the same for about 850 German Canadians. I don't know how well they vetted those men, but they didn't take a significant portion of those demographics.
I bring this up because if we are at war, some folks from the opposing country will most likely have to be locked up, much faster than our courts can usually do such things, even if there is some practical injustice to it, but the Japanese Canadians and Euro-Canadians weren't really treated the same.
Ovi might be a great guy in a tough spot, or an earnest supporter of imperialism, but he's not some saboteur.
"The NHL was, obviously, in a tricky spot. Should it have banned Russian players just because of their passports? Probably not, and it almost certainly wouldn’t have survived legal challenges if they had tried. But it also felt at the time like the NHL could have done more than simply wave the Russian invasion away as not their problem to deal with."
This is SO weak. I mean, come on! If you are going to say this, at least offer a suggestion of what the NHL should have done. Now, I say the Russian invasion was most certainly NOT the NHL's problem to deal with but if you are going to say otherwise I am definitely willing to listen. But we need more than just that bald declaration for you to be taken seriously. Let us know - specifically, what should the NHL have done?
I feel much the same as the author does, but the author also seems like me to be at a complete loss of what to actually do about Ovechkin and other Russians. And Ovi is worse than the piece suggests, as he's actively helped to spread propaganda about Ukraine being full of Nazis and needing to protect "Russian children" from them. But ultimately what can be done about his shitty beliefs and/or cowardice that won't be a violation of our political freedoms?
Agreed, he does seem to be at a complete loss. Which, fair enough. So why write a column, the main thesis of which seems to be critical of the NHL's inactivity, if you don't actually have a suggestion for something that they ought reasonably to have done? This was lazy/empty and reminiscent of politicians criticizing the government without offering any substantive alternatives to that which they are criticizing. I hate being put in the position of defending the NHL but, "Bad NHL! You should do something but I don't have any idea what you should do", is not a fair criticism.
So easy for Mr. Stinson, who lives in the GTA to challenge the public stance of a man who has family in Russia, assets in Russia, and will retire in Russia. The KGB is everywhere in Russia, and when Putin goes, there will be over a hundred KGB agents to take his spot. Then Scott takes a shot at Gretzky because Trump is ruining the world. This is when his essay moved to comedy. Mexicans are celebrating the USA's involvement with the drug cartels. The Abraham Accords, which Trump is responsible for, will be peace to the middle east. The Russia conflict is coming to an end. Canada, a freeloader of NATO, and a protectionist socialistic country, is being told to stand on its own two feel and not be a sycophantic neighbour to the USA.
Several other Russian players who have all the same excuses Ovi has, have spoken out against the war and Putin specifically. Nothing has happened to them, at least that is publicly known. Stop making excuses for his cowardice.
Artemi Panarin, a star for the Rangers in the NHL, has been targeted by Putin sycophants. He's been arrested for firing a weapon in an unauthorized area and had his former coach claim he punched out a girl about 12 years ago.
Panarin has been openly critical of Putin, so one can only assume he will be targeted by Trump soon...
Not sure what Mr. Stinson's goal is with this piece other than to say people can be offended by Ovechkin's overt support of his home country. By Mr. Stinson's account, the NHL could have made a decision to bar Ovechkin three years ago. They didn't as the incentives clearly outweighed the purely symbolic nature of the ban. One may have an opinion about this, but their decision to act or not act has made virtually no difference in regards to the war. Who consults Hockey News for perspectives on geopolitics? You don't like his position, don't go to see his games. I wouldn't.
It's Ovechkin's status as a professional athlete, and our preoccupation with signifiers and representation, that makes this at all salient. Challenging Gretzky's record is well within the domain of what a single individual can accomplish regardless of their nationality. Who knows, it might provide the impetus for some kid from Manitoba with Ukrainian heritage to have the drive and singular vision to get that record back?
This article shows sadly a prevalent Canadian approach to the world. Someone achieves success in their field and you find reasons to denigrate the individual. Like a Quebec premier said, Canadians are like lobsters - when one tries to climb out of the boiling pot the others pull him back in. Whatever happened to celebrating accomplishments and winners? Can’t do that - people might think you’re an American😳.
The Olympics banned Russia. There is no reason the NHL couldn't have done the same. Legal consequences...sure, but it would still be in court, and the Russians could all be at home in the KHL. But is this any different than what the US did to Iraq? No, and the USA suffered no consequences, so that seems hypocritical already. It will be interesting to see what happens to LA in 2028 considering the US departing democracy and the rule of law. "Normal" has left the building.
Ovechkin and Gretzky are great players. It doesn't appear that either are great people outside the sport. So let them do their "handoff", and forget about it. There are more pressing issues.
The Olympics banned the nation Russia. Russian athletes can still compete and they have, they just can't fly the flag or get the anthem played at medal ceremonies or be part of the nation medal table. So if you think the NHL should do the same, they did. They didnt bring Russia the country to the 4 nations and they also allow Russian players to compete as individuals. So, what is your point?
Russia is not a member of the NHL. There is no sense that the state of Russia could be banned from competing in the NHL, the way the IOC can ban its teams from the Olympics.
I'm not saying my opinion on this is reasonable, rational or relevant. Sports is propaganda in Russia. As far as I'm concerned, the day they invaded, every Russian athlete in every professional sports league around the world should have been sent home...including not being allowed to participate in Paris under a neutral banner. It's an opinion; not a fact.
“We” meaning the Government of Canada could deem them undesirables and revoke whatever visas they have to enter and work in Canada. But “we” the NHL has no such authority to fire a member team’s employed players or bar them entry to play a game in Canada. I suspect most Canadian hockey fans would prefer to watch them play here than have them arrested and sent back to Russia especially with the playoffs approaching. So you might find Canadian patriotism would be like Doug Ford: a mile wide and six inches deep. (That’s an old American political joke involving the River Platte in Texas.)
> But is this any different than what the US did to Iraq?
Radically so.
First, the Ukraine has free elections. Hussein was a murderous dictator.
Second, the conduct of the militaries is vastly different. You might as well say that the Canadian military in WW2 was the same as the Russian military.
Yes, he was. And the US illegally invaded in exactly the same way Putin invaded Ukraine...and entirely based on lies. I see no difference in the 2 invasions...except the US one created ISIS, and completely destabilised the Mideast even further for a generation.
I’m not going to argue that the invasion of Iraq was on par with the battle of the pelennor fields, but it’s absurd to say that if two things are bad they must be “no different”.
Ok, but at least answer this; the US invaded Iraq based on no grounds whatsoever except that lie that was weapons of mass destruction. Putin says he invaded because Ukraine was a threat. Ukraine is next to Russia. and Iraq is 7000 miles from the US. There is nothing that justifies Putin's actions, yet NATO and Ukraine are a far bigger threat to Russia than Iraq is to the US.....and Iraq's military had been all but wiped out 10 years earlier. But how are they different? They're both patently illegal, both against the accepted post-WW2 world order. So please, how are they different?
Good read. It’s definitely going to be interesting with the added bonus of Gretzky also mired in a self imposed controversy for his association with Trump. The saying that you can choose your friends but not your kin applies to this in a manner not intended as both have remained loyal to their “friends”. Too many politicians have patsies that believe themselves to be friends. You can befriend whomever you choose in life but you may have to defend that position when your friend wanders off the path that you had believed he would follow especially when the blood can no longer be hidden.
If the reverse were true would Russia allow a Canadian or American to become their leading scorer?? I sincerely doubt it. 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🆓🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
One of the hallmarks of democratic societies is freedom of speech. Residents are allowed to pontificate their beliefs in the most vile of points of view (also to try to change the minds of others) without official censure. Try that in Ovechkin's beloved Russia or any of the other pariah states and we all know what would happen.
Recently, the leaders of both the US and Canada have tried, or are trying, to change the prevailing views in their respective countries to gain support for legislating this freedom and a numbers of others away from us, and Canada even introduced legislation, which died when Parliament was prorogued.
Freedom of speech includes every single interviewer making every interview about his support for rape, murder and kidnapping.
Yes, yes, you’re good with a stick, we all know that…. now explain why you support Putin’s invasion and the rape and murder of Ukrainians, the kidnapping of their children and the occupation of their country?
Follow up question.. how would you feel if your kids and wife got the same treatment and why is it different when it’s some other little kid?
To play the Devils Advocate for a moment what would we collectively say if it came to light that this 20 year quest to the goal scoring summit was aided but tainted by use of performance enhancing drugs? Would we care? Would the NHL care? Would V. Putin care? (snicker, snicker).
I bring this up because rather than lop off a tall poppy for political reasons perhaps we should all stay in our lane, (including sports writers) and admit that there serious angles to this that are far beyond anyone’s control. Starting with contractual obligations. Years ago the League allowed players from Europe to be signed, somewhat out of necessity. With the rampant expansion in the NHL, the top European players were needed to maintain a quality product. The Ovechkins are in the league with a fan base and earning their salaries. No League Commissioner is going to sabotage this arrangement unless laws are being broken.
Finally, Ovechkin has been connected to Putin for years, which is understandable considering Putin loves hockey and Overchkin is a better than average player. Our Prime Minister just skated with the Edmonton Oilers, proving that politics and hockey culture can align, but we might not necessarily admire all the participants.
The simple truth is that sports exist on a different plain than politics. Ovechkin is Russian, and supports Putin, many American hockey players may be Republican and support Trump. Tiger Woods is friends with Trump, I personally find the sexual exploits of Tiger woods to be disgusting, that does not stop me from acknowledging that he is the very best golfer ever to play the sport. We don't have to accept the political ideologies of a person to accept and celebrate their accomplishments.
Sports have existed on the same plane as politics since Roman times. They aren't their own universe. It's unfortunate that some of the best athletes are also complete pieces of crap as human beings, but that extends to many other fields as well. We can admire Picasso's paintings while acknowledging he was an utter monster of a person.
Ovechkin is a joke. He is 39, Russian and scoring goals like he is 29. Has anyone thought to screen this guy for performance enhancements? As for Russian players continued participation in the NHL. It is a travesty. Would the NHL have allowed Natzis to play in 1943? Obviously not. Please explain the difference to me. You can't!
Stuff all of them on a plane and send them back from whence they came.
Saying it's lost its validity doesn't make it so. Why? As for McCo's comment. I agree. That is Bettmans excuse. It doesn't make it right. If he tried that excuse in 1943 he would have been drawn and quartered.
The NHL organization has few morals and no backbone. It never has. It worships the twin gods of power and money so it’s no wonder some of its players do the same. As for Ovechkin, why not just ignore him, ignore his record when or if it occurs, no media coverage, no Bettman blathering on in his smarmy way, just total silence.
Honestly, I understand Ovechkin low-key supporting Putin more than I understand Gretzky low-key supporting Trump. Putin is viewed as having done a lot for Russia during post-Soviet Russia and I’m not sure its entirely wrong even if he was as shady as all hell throughout the process. He also clearly took a personal interest in Ovi which is going to stick with your average hockey player. Gretzky just seems to be Trump’s golf buddy, though in fairness, Putin’s transgressions are significantly worse than Trump’s.
Personally, I’m not all that bent out of shape over either guy’s position. Nearly everyone has an egregiously stupid opinion on something and if they can have the sense to keep it to themselves, good for them. I wish more people had that same sense.
C'mon Scott. Sport has been a haven for corruption, cheating, racism, misogyny and immorality. Write about the illegal stuff and ignore the rest (there's plenty of there there). I couldn't care less about what actors, sports figures or influencers believe.
I am not sure what Mr. Stinson expected from the NHL or Ovechkin. Ovechkin’s apparent support for Putin is odious, of course, but the NHL cannot kick him out of the league for that. That he is on the cusp of breaking the Gretzky’s record is almost unbelievable. Maybe we can push the politics aside in order to enjoy a remarkable event in hockey history. Maybe?
Yes they can kick him out for that.
Would our grandparents have hesitated to kick out an NHL star who supported Hitler in 1943?
No. They had moral fibre.
The NHL needs to grow a backbone. A set of gonads might be useful to them as well.
And crowds should boo the Putin supporter with gusto. Every. single. game.
Aaaah, the good ole' reductio ad hitlerum. Whatever you think of Putin, he is not anywhere near Hitler's league.
A despicable despot, but you can't compare. Should we then refuse to do business with any citizen of a country who's ruled by a despot?
Individuals can and should stand on their own merit. Judge them for who they are, not what passport they carry.
As for supporting Putin, the evidence seems weak. Someone in his position would certainly have to rub elbows with his country's leaders and put on a brave face doing so.
Unless he explicitly endorsed and supported the war in Ukraine, you can't blame the guy for playing along.
I too wish more people stood up for something like Enes Kanter Freedom, but he's a hockey player who wants to play with a puck.
Judging him through a political activist lens is missing the point.
If that's all of your argument, it's weak.
"As for supporting Putin, the evidence seems weak."
Stop being willfully ignorant, have some intellectual honesty, and stop making excuses for a grown-ass man. Ovi has publicly supported Putin for years, and to this day his profile photo on Instagram is of him and Putin. He's spoken about "saving Russian children from Fascism", which is explicit Kremlin propaganda about Ukraine and used to justify the Russian state kidnapping thousands of Ukrainian children.
Sources here and a million other places if you care to look: https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/alex-ovechkin-putin-1.6726430
I'm not wilfully ignorant, just ignorant because until this article I knew nothing about Ovechkin and didn't give a shit about the NHL.
I'm purely judging this from a free speech absolutist perspective.
He's allowed to have whatever opinions he wants, so long as he doesn't cause harm himself, is how I look at it.
I long for the days when the ACLU defended the Skokie nazis on free speech grounds.
He's a hockey player and expecting him to understand geopolitics at the level of a international diplomat is unfair and unrealistic.
Throw the first stone if you haven't held any stupid belief in your life, ever.
Don't pull a hernia moving those goal posts.
No risk, I have a strong back. I can deadlift 118% of my own weight.
Of course he’s not in Hitler’s “league”. He’s a junior player in the rape, murder and conquest game compared to Hitler. There’s a big difference of degree there.
But it IS a difference of degree, not of kind so it’s a valid comparison not reductio anything.
So we have an NHL star supporting and carrying water for junior tryouts Hitler and not actual Hitler.
Our grandfathers would have had the stones to give both the boot rather than throwing money at them.
And lock up Japanese Canadians and Italian Canadians
It’s offensive to the interned Canadians that you would make that comparison.
Mr. Ovechkin is an outspoken supporter of Putin
Your comment is offensive to the interned Canadians because implies that all the innocent Canadians of Japanese descent were locked up were supporters of imperial Japan.
The people we interned were targeted because of their ethnicity. Mr. Ovechkin’s race has nothing to do with this. His support of Putin and the Putin regime is what matters.
The Japanese were all painted with the same brush. Women and children were relocated as well as the men, regardless of political afilliations.
While Italian Canadians may have been distrusted or treated unfairly during the war, the actual incarceration was limited to about 600 adult men who were accused of being fascist supporters (of the over 3,100 Italian Canadian fascist supporters identified by the police). This included Italian sailors in port at the time the Italian government declared war. They did the same for about 850 German Canadians. I don't know how well they vetted those men, but they didn't take a significant portion of those demographics.
I bring this up because if we are at war, some folks from the opposing country will most likely have to be locked up, much faster than our courts can usually do such things, even if there is some practical injustice to it, but the Japanese Canadians and Euro-Canadians weren't really treated the same.
Ovi might be a great guy in a tough spot, or an earnest supporter of imperialism, but he's not some saboteur.
No.
Could we manufacture more problems, just for fun, cause we don’t already have enough.
I agree. I feel sorry for Canada to be a country that seems to think that hockey actually matters, and so has to use it to invent problems.
"The NHL was, obviously, in a tricky spot. Should it have banned Russian players just because of their passports? Probably not, and it almost certainly wouldn’t have survived legal challenges if they had tried. But it also felt at the time like the NHL could have done more than simply wave the Russian invasion away as not their problem to deal with."
This is SO weak. I mean, come on! If you are going to say this, at least offer a suggestion of what the NHL should have done. Now, I say the Russian invasion was most certainly NOT the NHL's problem to deal with but if you are going to say otherwise I am definitely willing to listen. But we need more than just that bald declaration for you to be taken seriously. Let us know - specifically, what should the NHL have done?
I feel much the same as the author does, but the author also seems like me to be at a complete loss of what to actually do about Ovechkin and other Russians. And Ovi is worse than the piece suggests, as he's actively helped to spread propaganda about Ukraine being full of Nazis and needing to protect "Russian children" from them. But ultimately what can be done about his shitty beliefs and/or cowardice that won't be a violation of our political freedoms?
Agreed, he does seem to be at a complete loss. Which, fair enough. So why write a column, the main thesis of which seems to be critical of the NHL's inactivity, if you don't actually have a suggestion for something that they ought reasonably to have done? This was lazy/empty and reminiscent of politicians criticizing the government without offering any substantive alternatives to that which they are criticizing. I hate being put in the position of defending the NHL but, "Bad NHL! You should do something but I don't have any idea what you should do", is not a fair criticism.
So easy for Mr. Stinson, who lives in the GTA to challenge the public stance of a man who has family in Russia, assets in Russia, and will retire in Russia. The KGB is everywhere in Russia, and when Putin goes, there will be over a hundred KGB agents to take his spot. Then Scott takes a shot at Gretzky because Trump is ruining the world. This is when his essay moved to comedy. Mexicans are celebrating the USA's involvement with the drug cartels. The Abraham Accords, which Trump is responsible for, will be peace to the middle east. The Russia conflict is coming to an end. Canada, a freeloader of NATO, and a protectionist socialistic country, is being told to stand on its own two feel and not be a sycophantic neighbour to the USA.
Yep.
Several other Russian players who have all the same excuses Ovi has, have spoken out against the war and Putin specifically. Nothing has happened to them, at least that is publicly known. Stop making excuses for his cowardice.
Artemi Panarin, a star for the Rangers in the NHL, has been targeted by Putin sycophants. He's been arrested for firing a weapon in an unauthorized area and had his former coach claim he punched out a girl about 12 years ago.
Panarin has been openly critical of Putin, so one can only assume he will be targeted by Trump soon...
Thanks, had forgotten about those spurious allegations that popped up soon after he criticized Putin and the war.
I got your back, buddy. ;)
Not sure what Mr. Stinson's goal is with this piece other than to say people can be offended by Ovechkin's overt support of his home country. By Mr. Stinson's account, the NHL could have made a decision to bar Ovechkin three years ago. They didn't as the incentives clearly outweighed the purely symbolic nature of the ban. One may have an opinion about this, but their decision to act or not act has made virtually no difference in regards to the war. Who consults Hockey News for perspectives on geopolitics? You don't like his position, don't go to see his games. I wouldn't.
It's Ovechkin's status as a professional athlete, and our preoccupation with signifiers and representation, that makes this at all salient. Challenging Gretzky's record is well within the domain of what a single individual can accomplish regardless of their nationality. Who knows, it might provide the impetus for some kid from Manitoba with Ukrainian heritage to have the drive and singular vision to get that record back?
This article shows sadly a prevalent Canadian approach to the world. Someone achieves success in their field and you find reasons to denigrate the individual. Like a Quebec premier said, Canadians are like lobsters - when one tries to climb out of the boiling pot the others pull him back in. Whatever happened to celebrating accomplishments and winners? Can’t do that - people might think you’re an American😳.
The Olympics banned Russia. There is no reason the NHL couldn't have done the same. Legal consequences...sure, but it would still be in court, and the Russians could all be at home in the KHL. But is this any different than what the US did to Iraq? No, and the USA suffered no consequences, so that seems hypocritical already. It will be interesting to see what happens to LA in 2028 considering the US departing democracy and the rule of law. "Normal" has left the building.
Ovechkin and Gretzky are great players. It doesn't appear that either are great people outside the sport. So let them do their "handoff", and forget about it. There are more pressing issues.
The Olympics banned the nation Russia. Russian athletes can still compete and they have, they just can't fly the flag or get the anthem played at medal ceremonies or be part of the nation medal table. So if you think the NHL should do the same, they did. They didnt bring Russia the country to the 4 nations and they also allow Russian players to compete as individuals. So, what is your point?
Russia is not a member of the NHL. There is no sense that the state of Russia could be banned from competing in the NHL, the way the IOC can ban its teams from the Olympics.
I'm not saying my opinion on this is reasonable, rational or relevant. Sports is propaganda in Russia. As far as I'm concerned, the day they invaded, every Russian athlete in every professional sports league around the world should have been sent home...including not being allowed to participate in Paris under a neutral banner. It's an opinion; not a fact.
We could always ban Russian citizens from entering Canada.
Hmm. Why not?
“We” meaning the Government of Canada could deem them undesirables and revoke whatever visas they have to enter and work in Canada. But “we” the NHL has no such authority to fire a member team’s employed players or bar them entry to play a game in Canada. I suspect most Canadian hockey fans would prefer to watch them play here than have them arrested and sent back to Russia especially with the playoffs approaching. So you might find Canadian patriotism would be like Doug Ford: a mile wide and six inches deep. (That’s an old American political joke involving the River Platte in Texas.)
> But is this any different than what the US did to Iraq?
Radically so.
First, the Ukraine has free elections. Hussein was a murderous dictator.
Second, the conduct of the militaries is vastly different. You might as well say that the Canadian military in WW2 was the same as the Russian military.
Yes, he was. And the US illegally invaded in exactly the same way Putin invaded Ukraine...and entirely based on lies. I see no difference in the 2 invasions...except the US one created ISIS, and completely destabilised the Mideast even further for a generation.
I’m not going to argue that the invasion of Iraq was on par with the battle of the pelennor fields, but it’s absurd to say that if two things are bad they must be “no different”.
Ok, but at least answer this; the US invaded Iraq based on no grounds whatsoever except that lie that was weapons of mass destruction. Putin says he invaded because Ukraine was a threat. Ukraine is next to Russia. and Iraq is 7000 miles from the US. There is nothing that justifies Putin's actions, yet NATO and Ukraine are a far bigger threat to Russia than Iraq is to the US.....and Iraq's military had been all but wiped out 10 years earlier. But how are they different? They're both patently illegal, both against the accepted post-WW2 world order. So please, how are they different?
The biggest difference is in their conduct of the war.
Do you need me to go on?
So because the US didn't rape and pillage, they get a get-out-of-jail-free card? Both invaded illegally. Russia has more war criminals.
Good read. It’s definitely going to be interesting with the added bonus of Gretzky also mired in a self imposed controversy for his association with Trump. The saying that you can choose your friends but not your kin applies to this in a manner not intended as both have remained loyal to their “friends”. Too many politicians have patsies that believe themselves to be friends. You can befriend whomever you choose in life but you may have to defend that position when your friend wanders off the path that you had believed he would follow especially when the blood can no longer be hidden.
If the reverse were true would Russia allow a Canadian or American to become their leading scorer?? I sincerely doubt it. 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑🆓🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
That’s the difference between us and them. Celebrate it.
One of the hallmarks of democratic societies is freedom of speech. Residents are allowed to pontificate their beliefs in the most vile of points of view (also to try to change the minds of others) without official censure. Try that in Ovechkin's beloved Russia or any of the other pariah states and we all know what would happen.
Recently, the leaders of both the US and Canada have tried, or are trying, to change the prevailing views in their respective countries to gain support for legislating this freedom and a numbers of others away from us, and Canada even introduced legislation, which died when Parliament was prorogued.
Freedom of speech includes every single interviewer making every interview about his support for rape, murder and kidnapping.
Yes, yes, you’re good with a stick, we all know that…. now explain why you support Putin’s invasion and the rape and murder of Ukrainians, the kidnapping of their children and the occupation of their country?
Follow up question.. how would you feel if your kids and wife got the same treatment and why is it different when it’s some other little kid?
👏👏👏👍
To play the Devils Advocate for a moment what would we collectively say if it came to light that this 20 year quest to the goal scoring summit was aided but tainted by use of performance enhancing drugs? Would we care? Would the NHL care? Would V. Putin care? (snicker, snicker).
I bring this up because rather than lop off a tall poppy for political reasons perhaps we should all stay in our lane, (including sports writers) and admit that there serious angles to this that are far beyond anyone’s control. Starting with contractual obligations. Years ago the League allowed players from Europe to be signed, somewhat out of necessity. With the rampant expansion in the NHL, the top European players were needed to maintain a quality product. The Ovechkins are in the league with a fan base and earning their salaries. No League Commissioner is going to sabotage this arrangement unless laws are being broken.
Finally, Ovechkin has been connected to Putin for years, which is understandable considering Putin loves hockey and Overchkin is a better than average player. Our Prime Minister just skated with the Edmonton Oilers, proving that politics and hockey culture can align, but we might not necessarily admire all the participants.
The simple truth is that sports exist on a different plain than politics. Ovechkin is Russian, and supports Putin, many American hockey players may be Republican and support Trump. Tiger Woods is friends with Trump, I personally find the sexual exploits of Tiger woods to be disgusting, that does not stop me from acknowledging that he is the very best golfer ever to play the sport. We don't have to accept the political ideologies of a person to accept and celebrate their accomplishments.
Sports have existed on the same plane as politics since Roman times. They aren't their own universe. It's unfortunate that some of the best athletes are also complete pieces of crap as human beings, but that extends to many other fields as well. We can admire Picasso's paintings while acknowledging he was an utter monster of a person.
Ovechkin is a joke. He is 39, Russian and scoring goals like he is 29. Has anyone thought to screen this guy for performance enhancements? As for Russian players continued participation in the NHL. It is a travesty. Would the NHL have allowed Natzis to play in 1943? Obviously not. Please explain the difference to me. You can't!
Stuff all of them on a plane and send them back from whence they came.
Nazi was a political affiliation choice. Russian is a result of birth.
Openly supporting Putin is something of a choice.
Another case of reduction ad hitlerum.
That "argument" has lost any validity a long time ago. Find another one.
And see Dan McCo's comment for why.
Saying it's lost its validity doesn't make it so. Why? As for McCo's comment. I agree. That is Bettmans excuse. It doesn't make it right. If he tried that excuse in 1943 he would have been drawn and quartered.
It's lost validity and credibility because these days everyone is a nazi.
Cf boy who cried wolf.
If you can't distinguish between an ideological choice and life circumstances, I'm afraid there isn't much else we can do for you my good man.
The NHL organization has few morals and no backbone. It never has. It worships the twin gods of power and money so it’s no wonder some of its players do the same. As for Ovechkin, why not just ignore him, ignore his record when or if it occurs, no media coverage, no Bettman blathering on in his smarmy way, just total silence.
It's a business. Boycott it if you have an issue.
I could have wrote German that supported Hitler. Instead of Natzi. You are nit picking.
Honestly, I understand Ovechkin low-key supporting Putin more than I understand Gretzky low-key supporting Trump. Putin is viewed as having done a lot for Russia during post-Soviet Russia and I’m not sure its entirely wrong even if he was as shady as all hell throughout the process. He also clearly took a personal interest in Ovi which is going to stick with your average hockey player. Gretzky just seems to be Trump’s golf buddy, though in fairness, Putin’s transgressions are significantly worse than Trump’s.
Personally, I’m not all that bent out of shape over either guy’s position. Nearly everyone has an egregiously stupid opinion on something and if they can have the sense to keep it to themselves, good for them. I wish more people had that same sense.
I love watching Ovechkin's joy at an empty net... the whole team defers to him so he can limp out there and sandbag his way to a statistic, lol.
C'mon Scott. Sport has been a haven for corruption, cheating, racism, misogyny and immorality. Write about the illegal stuff and ignore the rest (there's plenty of there there). I couldn't care less about what actors, sports figures or influencers believe.