The 2019 NHL Awards are in Las Vegas on Wednesday, and sadly it does not appear there will be any Washington Capitals at the awards. Team captain Alex Ovechkin, who has won his record-breaking eighth Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy appears to still be on vacation in Turkey with his family.
Since there might not be any Caps players spicing up the evening, here’s a look back at their record-breaking, laugh-inducing, fedora-wearing moments from past NHL Awards.
Ovi winning the Calder
The year? 2006.
The competition? Sidney Crosby and Dion Phaneuf.
The winner? YOU KNOW IT Y’ALL: With 52 goals and 54 assists in a well-deserved landslide vote, the Caps’ very own Alex Ovechkin took home the trophy for rookie of the year.
Ovi taking home all of the trophies
In 2008, Ovechkin was the first player in NHL history to win the Hart Memorial Trophy, the Lester B. Pearson/Ted Lindsay Award, the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy, and the Art Ross Trophy.
tl; dr: 🔥.
2009’s chirp-filled acceptance speech
Ovi, in a classy move, apologized to–and thanked–the Capitals’ equipment manager Brock Myles for putting up with Ovi being demanding during the regular season and also for asking for twenty sticks to take home for the summer.
Ovechkin also photobombed Evgeni Malkin onstage, which wasn’t hard, as the two were called up to the stage at the same time to receive their respective awards: Art Ross Trophy (Malkin) and Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy (Ovechkin). It was Ovechkin’s second time winning the Rocket Richard, he also took home the Hart and the Lester B. Pearson/Ted Lindsay Award).
After Malkin finished his speech, Ovi chirped both him and Pavel Datsyuk for their English skills with one joke, demonstrating his own skill with the language.
(Once again: 🔥.)
Wow, what a rivalry, eh?
In 2010, both Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby were nominated for the Hart Memorial Trophy. Ovechkin, who was documenting the event, interviewed Noted Rival Sidney Crosby about their heated competition.
Alex Ovechkin: Who do you think is gonna win the Hart?
Sidney Crosby: You.
Alex Ovechkin [selfie cam angle]: Same question, ‘Who is gonna win the Hart?’ Sidney Crosby.
While Ovechkin was a safe bet, having taken it home the previous two years, the eventual winner that year was Henrik Sedin.
Host Jay Mohr made fun of Ovi’s tramp stamps tattoos
In 2011 Ovechkin and the Capitals got chirped/flattered by host Jay Mohr for some of their most moments in the documentary “24/7: Road to the Winter Classic” television miniseries.
While the skit does include Bruce Boudreau’s profanity-laden tirade, it also inserted a visually-censored Jay Mohr into Ovechkin’s morning routine.
While Dan Steinberg in 2009 went with the assumption that the tattoos meant “Stop Looking At My Back, Creeps,” a potentially more accurate translation of the Chinese characters is a more on-brand “one family” and “life.”
Braden Holtby went suit shopping
Holtbae was lookin’ good as the William M. Jennings Trophy winner in 2017.
We also got a rare look inside his fedora-selection process.
Reminder: we have yet to receive an answer to our question re: the Holtbys’ two tortoises and whether or not they have their own fedoras. RMNB friend (and craft-expert) Rami is READY for that challenge.
Who am I to ignore my crafty calling?
Even when it’s based on a one-off ridiculous joke.
(But seriously, @bbholtby – if you/the kids want them they’re yours, even though I doubt Honey & his brother would actually wear them. XD Tho the 9yo did put a prototype on the cat. 🙄😂) pic.twitter.com/VAUc0xTClN
— N 🏒🏒🏒 (@darthrami) April 7, 2019
Wonder Woman
The 2018 Stanley Cup Champions had the most fun at the NHL Awards, smiling, joking, and dancing throughout the evening.
Lynda Carter, the original Wonder Woman actress and Washington Capitals superhero/fan, hung out with Nicklas Backstrom before the awards. The two also presented the General Manager of the Year award to George McPhee together.
The Bellagio Fountain Outtakes
The only thing better than the fountain skit is the fountain skit outtakes.
The two Stanley Cup Champions seriously contemplated jumping into the fountain multiple times.
nicke: it's hot.
ovi: hot?
nicke: yeah.
ovi: let's do it.
nicke: why not?
ovi: yeah. can you imagine?
nicke: we'd get arrested.
*conspiratorial chortling. A/V cuts out.* pic.twitter.com/d2PLa9FUQq— b. (@youripides) June 21, 2018
“Please make sure you film our shoes, too. Those are…”
Don’t worry, Nick. We’d never forget that award show highlight.
Headline photo: NHL
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