As we discussed on the podcast, we are not discussing off-season things until the off-season happens. Caps forward Devante Smith-Pelly – who has scored six goals this postseason – has no such policy. During Wednesday’s media time, Smith-Pelly – who has scored two game-winning goals, the same number as Alex Ovechkin – was asked what he thought of a possible Caps visit to President Donald Trump’s White House, should the Caps win the Stanley Cup.
Smith-Pelly – who has outscored Backstrom, Laine, Malkin, Marchand, Subban, Burns, Couturier, Couture, and Killorn – did not mince words.
“The things that [Donald Trump] spews are straight-up racist and sexist,” Smith-Pelly said to the National Posts’s Michael Traikos . “Some of the things he’s said are pretty gross … It hasn’t come up here, but I think I already have my mind made up.”
https://twitter.com/Michael_Traikos/status/1004487777080172544
Read Traikos’ full article on The National Post.
This is not the first time that Smith-Pelly, who scored five goals for the Anaheim Ducks in their 2014 postseason, has spoken up. In February, Chicago Blackhawks fans subjected him to racist taunts. In reply, DSP was direct.
“We can’t brush [racism] under the rug,” Smith-Pelly said. “It’s, you’ve got to start calling people out and making sure people see other people’s true colors. So, that’s what I’m trying, to get the conversation started, and show whoever these people were their true colors.”
Smith-Pelly is the Capitals 2017-18 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy nominee.
Headline photo: Cara Bahniuk
