Alex Ovechkin and his wife Nastya were honored guests at the KHL’s end-of-season awards show at Barvikha on Thursday.
While Ovi didn’t go home with any hockey awards, he did get to present two trophies to a former Capital and close friend. He also got surprised with a gift at the end of the night.
Former Capital Dmitrij Jaskin, now currently a star for SKA St. Petersburg, cleaned up at the show, winning the Golden Stick Award as league MVP and the Golden Helmet as part of the end-of-year All-Star team.
Ovechkin also presented two awards to Jaskin for leading the league in goals (40) and points (62).
After completing his speech, Jaskin was presented a certificate for a Lada Niva Travel KHL car by Sergey Ilyinsky the PR Director of JSC AvtoVAZ.
Then Ilyinsky announced that Ovechkin, who was still on stage, was receiving a new car as well. Ovechkin sheepishly smiled on stage.
Afterward, Ovechkin, who once had a collection of seven cars, admitted he did not have a plan for his new KHL-mobile.
“I was pleasantly surprised by this prize,” Ovechkin said per sports.ru and a Google Translation. “I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do with it yet.”
Ovechkin added that he had a Russian-made car and that his father once drove a Zhiguli.
The last time Ovechkin was awarded a car was at the 2015 NHL All-Star Game. Back then, teams held a draft to pick their All-Star rosters and the last pick would get a car out of sympathy. Ovechkin hilariously campaigned to be the final pick that year, but had his dreams dashed when he was picked third from last.
After All-Star Weekend concluded, Honda presented Ovechkin with a 2015 Honda Accord as a gift, which he then donated to Ann Schaab and the Washington Ice Dogs of the American Special Hockey Association.
During a Russian-language interview in 2013, Ovechkin said that collecting cars was his “main hobby, my dream, and there is nothing I can do about it.”
He added, “The more (cars) the better, but in fact my parents already tell me: ‘Sasha, why do you need so many?'”
Headline photo: @nadi__jaskin/IG
