Ovechkin’s Fence Straddling Contrasts with Russian Defector Mogilny
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union developed a strong hockey program to compete with western countries such as the United States and Canada. Russia’s Communist government subsidized the players and officially called them amateurs while training them full time. These athletes dominated hockey in international competitions, including the Winter Olympics. However, they were forbidden to leave their home country to sign with other leagues, including the NHL. In 1988, the Buffalo Sabres selected Russian junior Alexander Mogilny, with the 89th overall pick in the NHL draft. Mogilny couldn’t officially come to the United States to play for Buffalo, so during the 1989 World Junior Championships in Stockholm, Sweden, the Russian star defected during the night, with help from Sabres officials.
Mogilny was thrilled to have escaped from an authoritarian dictatorship. Shortly after his defection, he said “Today I feel nothing but happiness. Perhaps this season was a rough one for me. I wouldn’t wish what I went through on my worst enemy…I’m not made of steel, you know.” Mogilny went on to have a successful NHL career, and his defection paved the way for other Russian athletes to play in the National Hockey League, including Sergei Federov, Sergei Bobrovsky, Pavel Bure, Pavel Datsyuk and most famously, Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin.
Unlike Mogilny, who wore #89 in honour of his draft pick and the year of his defection, Ovechkin has been friendly with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Capitals’ LW posed for photos with Putin and he even wrote on Instagram in 2017, “I never hid my relationship with our president, always openly supporting him.”
Putin’s invasion has had wide ranging effects on Russian athletes. After Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24th, Poland’s international team announced they would not play against Russia in the World Cup-playoff match, and FIFA banned Russia from competing in the World Cup.
Ovechkin tried to straddle both sides of the fence, saying “He’s (Putin) my president, but I’m not into politics, and…I hope everything is going to be done soon. It’s a hard situation for both sides.”
Former NHL goalie Dominik Hasek criticized Ovechkin’s stance, calling the Capitals captain a “liar” and “chicken s**t” for glossing over his ties to Putin and refusing to condemn Putin’s actions. Hasek even tweeted that the league should suspend all contracts with existing Russian players:
Perhaps Ovechkin is refusing to take a side because his wife and other family members are in Russia, and he’s afraid of what might happen to them if he disavows Putin. However, there’s also the strong possibility that he really does support Putin, as he’s publicly done in the past. No doubt Ovechkin never thought the Russian leader would launch an all-out invasion of Ukraine, and his relationship with the authoritarian dictator would not turn into the hot topic it’s since become. Ovechkin can try to play both sides and claim he’s apolitical, but a picture with Putin is worth a thousand words.
-Jeff Dahlberg
Photo: Pens Through My Lens. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.