Earlier in the offseason, we learned from Brian MacLellan that Alex Ovechkin is a “big emoji guy” as a texter. Now, Dylan Strome is painting a fuller picture of Ovi’s digital communication style.
“He’s a big meme guy so he’s sending me memes lots,” Strome said to TSN of his summer conversations with Ovechkin. “I know he’s a big emoji guy. I’m sure you guys saw that with MacLellan. Just sending memes here and there, back and forth. He has a pretty good sense of humor so always fun to hear from him.”
Capitals players have spoken in the past about having a team group chat. So now I’m imagining Ovechkin sending this viral tweet with a thinking emoji while on vacation.
Or maybe he dropped this image when he felt particularly handsome on Red Carpet Night.
Locker room meetings when the team’s sputtering with an extra man? Nah. Ovechkin’s just going in texts and pressing send on this.
Ovechkin’s communication style first became a topic this summer when MacLellan revealed The Great 8’s reaction to the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade.
“Ovi checked in in the middle of [our offseason moves],” MacLellan said.
“What was his input?” asked Monumental Sports Network’s Tarik El-Bashir.
“He just, you know, the thumbs up emoji,” MacLellan responded. “I can’t remember [after which move] — I think it was Dubois. He’s been a little quiet lately.”
MacLellan was later open about how the team checks in with Ovechkin and lets him know what the team’s plans are ahead of time.
“You know, ‘What do you think [we’re] going to be able to do (in free agency)?’ Had a general discussion there. Then more texting back and forth as we accomplished some stuff. He’s a big emoji guy, so we got more emojis than texts or dialogue. So then I talked to him to explain Chris (Patrick) is taking over, and I’ll still be around.”
And I’m sure Ovi congratulated Brian the best way he knows how.
