Dominik Hasek was a goalie in the National Hockey League for 16 seasons. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014.
Every citizen acts as a representative of their country and serves as a walking advertisement for its actions — unless, of course, they publicly condemn those actions. At present, this means that every Russian citizen, and especially every supporter of President Vladimir Putin, serves as an advertisement for Russia’s imperialist war in Ukraine and the horrific crimes associated with it, including the mass abduction of Ukrainian children. This applies to all Russian citizens — including Russians playing in the NHL.
It makes no difference if they privately condemn their country’s crimes. What matters is who they are and what they say and do in public.
Alexander Ovechkin is the captain of the NHL’s Washington Capitals. He is also a longtime supporter of the world’s greatest criminal — Putin — a man responsible for the killing or maiming of more than a million people. Ovechkin continues to demonstrate this support 12 years after Russia, under Putin’s leadership, took over the Ukrainian territory of Crimea and more than four years after it brutally invaded the rest of Ukraine.
Ovechkin recently reaffirmed this position before the global public. First, he appeared in a pro-Putin political video alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, another architect of murderous Russian imperialism in Ukraine. He then confirmed his stance at a news conference where he publicly declared that, as a Russian citizen, he supports Russia.
Ovechkin says that he is “not pro-war.” But there can be no question that he is a supporter of the Russian criminals who started this brutal war and continue to wage it. What is the difference? “I want the peace and love for everybody,” he says. “It doesn’t matter who you are, American, Russian or Ukrainian.“ For the millions of Ukrainians who have lost loved ones and who live under constant Russian missile barrage, his words about peace and love are a mockery.
Of course, how Ovechkin conducts himself and presents his views is his own business. He has every right to think and act as he pleases. But it must be said that following such a public display, Ovechkin has now become an even greater promoter of Russia’s war of aggression than he was before — far more so than other Russian NHL players who have remained silent. (By the way, the NHL, the United States and Canada have all done little to help those Russians who object to Putin’s imperialist war make their voices heard; this needs to be rectified urgently.)
This means that the Washington Capitals — and the NHL as a whole — also serve as a huge advertisement for Russia’s imperialist war as long as Ovechkin is in the league. When you advertise a product, you boost its sales. And when you advertise a war of aggression, you escalate that war, prolonging it and thereby causing greater death, injury and suffering.
Let us, therefore, be very honest: An NHL that showcases a Putin supporter is an advertisement for Russia’s imperialist war. The NHL becomes complicit. Through its stance, the NHL bears a share of responsibility for the people killed and maimed in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Nothing can change how the NHL has acted over the four years since the launch of the Russian ground offensive in Ukraine in February 2022. How it chooses to act tomorrow, however, can be different. Ultimately, the decision rests primarily with the league.
Let me clarify what I mean when I say this is primarily the NHL’s decision.
Legislators in the United States and Canada could have made — and should have made long ago — this decision on the NHL’s behalf. For more than four years, neither country has managed to establish rules and laws to stop Russian citizens who have supported Putin’s aggression against Ukraine from sharing war propaganda within their borders. Consequently, NHL games in the U.S. and Canada have served, and continue to serve, as a massive platform for promoting Russia’s war.
A new NHL season begins in this week. Whether the league remains tacitly complicit in the deaths of people in Eastern Europe is a matter that NHL executives can decide. These individuals should ask themselves what matters most. Is it human life? Or is it a game, the victory of a team or an athlete’s career?
And finally, a message to all Washington Capitals fans: It may well be that the NHL and North American lawmakers decide to change nothing, and you continue to support your beloved team — a team of which Ovechkin remains a part. I want you to know that when Ovechkin takes the ice, or scores or assists on a goal — moments that might prompt your applause — these are also moments that boost his reach and, in the current climate, amplify his influence in promoting a criminal imperialist regime.
In a small way, then, it is possible that because Alexander Ovechkin stepped onto the ice that evening, more people — including his fellow Russians — will be killed in Russia’s war of aggression in the months to follow. These are people whom neither you nor I will ever know, yet their lives — I hope we can all agree — hold far greater value than any athletic feat, no matter how magnificent.
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