Bruce Arthur: The greying of Alexander Ovechkin includes his relationship with Vladimir Putin - Toronto Star

There has always been a joy in the way Ovechkin plays, and celebrates, but his politics suggest there is something darker.

Alexander Ovechkin appeared in a video this week for Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party in advance of the country’s Potemkin parliamentary elections.

Bruce Arthur is a columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @bruce_arthur.

The first time I saw Alexander Ovechkin play hockey in person it was like watching the start of a legend, and like a cartoon. His shot was a rifle, he skated like a locomotive, and he would score goals and wallpaper opposing players with a singular, ferocious joy. God, he was fun.

Two decades later, Ovechkin has greyed on the way to being both the greatest goal scorer, and perhaps the greatest Stanley Cup celebrant, in hockey history. Ovechkin turns 41 Thursday — to think he scored 44 goals at age 39 in just 65 games two seasons ago — and is now something more than just a hockey player, or a pending Hall of Famer. He is an icon of the game.

That makes the full picture such a shame. Ovechkin appeared in a video this week for Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party in advance of the country’s Potemkin parliamentary elections. Ovechkin is standing in a crowd: the Russian minister of foreign affairs, Sergei Lavrov, is out front. The head of the propaganda outfit RT is there, too, as are uniformed members of the Russian military, and fellow hockey player Slava Fetisov.

It is Ovechkin taking part in propaganda for a murderous regime, and not for the first time. In September 2017, before the season in which he would finally win a Stanley Cup, Ovechkin posted a picture of himself and Putin on Instagram and wrote, “Lately, I’ve been seeing the phrase ‘Putin’s team’ in the Western press. And you know, I really liked this definition. Personally, I’m ready to be part of such a team. I’ve never hidden my feelings about our President, always openly supporting him.” Ovechkin’s Instagram profile picture is still himself and Putin. This is not new.

The only thing that changed, really, is the gruesome march of history. Yes, Putin ran the largest state-sponsored doping program in recorded history before and after hosting the 2014 Olympics, and invaded Ukraine shortly after those Games, taking Crimea. And, yes, Russia worked to elect Donald Trump in 2016, no matter what Trump says. It was clear, even back then, what Putin was.

But Putin also launched the current war in Ukraine shortly after the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, and it has been a monstrous meat grinder ever since. At the time, Ovechkin made one of his only true political statements, saying, “Please, no more war. It doesn’t matter who is in the war — Russia, Ukraine, different countries — we have to live in peace.” He said, “I don’t control this one, guys.” It was the closest he ever came to a public crisis of conscience.

Four years later, here he is, in a video defending the indefensible war in Ukraine, as Russia probes the resolve of Europe with bomb plots and more, as Russian war crimes multiply in Ukraine, as allegations of aid to Iran against American military bases circulate, as the FBI alleges a Russian plot to execute targeted killings across Europe and the United States, and as Russian agents are accused of murders, including in Washington, D.C., less than two weeks ago. There is an irony here, as Trump’s White House keeps cosying up to Russia, that one of Russia’s greatest exports plays in the same town.

Even if you accept that America is rotting from the top, the atonality of Ovechkin is becoming too much to bear. He’s the greatest player in Capitals history, and his national team remains banned by the International Ice Hockey Federation. If you believe the Washington organization — a Capitals statement said Ovechkin was asked to appear in the video — then the absolute best-case scenario is that Ovechkin is so bound to Russia that he could not say no.

It’s been said before, and it might even be true. His wife and children spend most of their time there; there are real consequences to speaking out against Putin in Russia, or even for some, abroad. From defector Alexander Litvinenko to former Russian spy turned British double agent Sergei Skripal, to former opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Russia’s global assassination network has targeted a number of expat Russians. Doping whistleblowers Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov and runner Yiulia Stepanova have been pursued, too. The message is always clear: Don’t cross Russia, or Putin.

Maybe Ovechkin’s money and status could protect him; maybe not. Maybe he bound himself to Putin and cannot unbind himself; maybe he likes it that way. We don’t know.

But we are what we do, and as his glorious career creeps closer to the end Ovechkin is forever entangled with this moment in history, with Putin and his crimes, locked in a deathly embrace. He can play with joy and he can carry on, a greying version of the same marvellous legend that he has been for so long. It’s just harder to ignore that Ovechkin is more than just a hockey player, and more than just an icon, because he keeps reminding us he carries this dark and gruesome thing. And it’s with him everywhere he goes.

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Opinion articles are based on the author’s interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details

Bruce Arthur is a columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @bruce_arthur.