Statement on the NHL and Ovechkin
Eurolanche considers the NHL’s conduct toward Ovechkin to be outrageous.We must regretfully note that the National Hockey League has, in recent times, lost all sense of restraint and touch with reality. Its ongoing coverage of Russian hockey player Alexander Ovechkin is a profound display of disrespect not only toward the murdered hockey players and all victims of the Russian war in Ukraine, but also to its fans in Europe, where, due to the actions of the Russian regime, an unprecedented security risk prevails, with an uncertain future for ordinary people.
Because of Vladimir Putin and the Russian regime, Europe has come closer to a world war than at any time in the last 80 years. Through its communications, the NHL acts as if nothing is happening. On the contrary, despite all the well-known facts about Ovechkin’s ties to Russian politics, it continues to build his positive image.
When following posts about Ovechkin on the NHL’s official accounts, we wonder: from a communications perspective, is this the result of a complete lack of empathy, sociopathy, trolling European fans, or a combination of all these factors?
An Overview of Ovechkin’s Political Career
Russian hockey player Alexander Ovechkin decided years ago to voluntarily become involved in Russian politics. It was he who made the decision to bridge the worlds of professional sports and politics.
As early as 2014, he posed for a photographer holding a piece of paper that read “Let’s Save the Children from Fascism,” which represents the hard core of modern Russian propaganda and one of the ideological reasons for unleashing a full-scale war eight years later.
In 2017, he helped launch the “Team Putin” movement to support President Putin’s reelection a year later, thereby becoming a full-fledged part of the political campaign. According to analyses by international organizations, elections in Russia have not been free for several years, and their results are manipulated in Putin’s favor.
After the outbreak of full-scale war in 2022, Ovechkin failed to condemn the war or the actions of his country’s leaders. He did not even make an effort to send a message of peace through his Instagram profile picture, in which he continues to feature Russian President Putin.
In May 2025, Ovechkin donated his Washington Capitals jersey, with a personal dedication, to Belarusian dictator Lukashenko, who has ruled continuously since 1994.
Even after the start of Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, Ovechkin did not shy away from contact with Russian politicians, including members of parliament. He did not avoid Russia; reports that he and his family were allegedly in danger there turned out to be propaganda-driven disinformation created to defend him.
On the contrary, his actions over the course of several years culminated in the summer of 2026. Once again—proactively and voluntarily—he became part of Russian politics. By appearing in a video alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, he endorsed Putin’s political party in the upcoming elections. Lavrov is one of Putin’s closest allies and the architect of Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as the source of security threats to Europe. He is a war criminal.
An Appeal to the NHL
Ovechkin has taken every step—especially those since 2022—with full knowledge of the support he receives from the 21st-century Hitler, Vladimir Putin. Not even reports of Russian soldiers murdering Ukrainian children in Ukraine or the ongoing threats from Putin, Lavrov, and other Russian officials against European nations have deterred him from his active involvement in politics.
The Eurolanche Fan Club represents European fans of the Colorado Avalanche, as well as fans from other countries around the world who have joined the NHL’s longest-running Fan Club over the course of its nearly twenty-year history. Since the outbreak of Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, the Fan Club has been addressing issues of principle that mean more to its members than just sports. In the first weeks of the war, for example, this included launching a fundraiser to aid refugees and documenting the escape of a young Colorado Avalanche fan who, at age 10, fled Ukraine alone, traveling over 1,000 km to Slovakia.
Not only Eurolanche members, but all European NHL fans have been living in uncertainty since 2022 due to the consequences of potential further Russian actions, which could lead to a global conflict. Russian drones are already regularly flying over the territories of several European countries. Not to mention Ukraine and its people, as well as local NHL fans, who are dying in the fight for freedom and democracy.
In light of these facts, it is cynical, paradoxical, and incomprehensible that the world’s best hockey league has become a major promoter of a positive image of Russian hockey player Ovechkin, who has proactively and of his own accord chosen to become part of Russian politics and Putin’s regime—a regime that is an enemy of freedom, democracy, and Europe.
We therefore strongly urge the NHL to do the very least it can in the current situation—stop reporting on Ovechkin and stop mocking all NHL fans in Europe to their faces.
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
03/10/2026 - 21:35
