Alex Ovechkin is back in Russia this offseason and did an extensive interview with Russian soccer-based YouTube channel, It’s Football, Bro! on Thursday.
Among questions like whether he would play another friendly match with FC Dynamo Moscow this summer, Ovi was asked to choose five other hockey players to play with on his “symbolic all-time team”.
The Caps captain did not select long-time running mate Nicklas Backstrom, instead going with an all-Russian lineup. He did, however, name two former Capitals to his roster.
#ALLCAPS Alex Ovechkin was asked during a Russian speaking interview on Youtube to make up a symbolic team of his dreams with himself included.
Evgeni Nabokov
Vyacheslav Fetisov – Andrei Markov
Alex Ovechkin – Sergei Fedorov – Alex Semin pic.twitter.com/xXk8usrCod— Hockey News Hub (@HockeyNewsHub) May 11, 2023
Vyacheslav Fetisov, no stranger to playing in a Russian Five unit, was Ovechkin’s first pick. The 13-year NHL defenseman and former New Jersey Devils assistant coach won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and 1998 before announcing his retirement.
Fetisov was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2001. He made a one-game return to professional hockey in 2009, skating in a 3-2 KHL loss for Dynamo Moscow at 51 years of age.
Snubbing Braden Holtby, Ovechkin named Evgeni Nabokov as his netminder of choice. Nabokov won 353 games in the NHL as a member of the San Jose Sharks, New York Islanders, and Tampa Bay Lightning. In 697 career games, he posted a 2.44 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage.
Nabokov, who is currently employed by San Jose as a goaltending development coach, is the second-winningest Russian goaltender in league history.
Ovechkin chose regular international teammate Andrei Markov to pair with Fetisov on the blueline. Markov and Ovechkin had many battles against one another as Markov was a constant on the Montreal Canadiens backend for his entire 16-year NHL career. The two won gold together for Russia at the 2008 World Championships.
For his fellow forwards, Ovechkin decided to reunite his line from that same tournament, going with good buddies and former Caps teammates Sergei Fedorov and Alex Semin. The three led Russia in scoring in those 2008 matches, tallying 37 total points in nine games together on the way to gold.
With the Caps, Ovechkin, Semin, and Fedorov rarely skated as a trio at five-on-five. In Fedorov’s two seasons in DC, they saw just 64:55 of ice time as a unit. However, the line dominated those sparse minutes, getting 60.4 percent of the shot attempts, 57.7 percent of the expected goals, and 59.5 percent of the scoring chances.
Fedorov was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015. He currently serves as the head coach of CSKA Moscow in the KHL.
Semin, meanwhile is the only one of Ovechkin’s NHL teammates to hit the 40-goal mark in a single season. He announced his retirement from professional hockey last May and has since said he wants to travel with the Capitals once Ovechkin nears Gretzky’s all-time goals record.
Headline photo: @aleksandrovechkinofficial/Instagram
