Alex Ovechkin met with reporters in Ottawa ahead of the Washington Capitals’ road matchup with the Senators. Ovechkin fielded few Caps-related questions, as the Canadian media focused more on his opinion of Russia’s participation in international hockey tournaments and a planned protest of him ahead of Tuesday night’s game.
Russia’s status in international tournaments has become the site of renewed controversy in recent weeks. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled on October 30 that the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) must allow Russian teams to participate in its competitions during the 2026-27 season. The decision, which overturns the country’s exclusion after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has sparked worldwide dialogue, particularly in Canada, which will host the 2027 World Junior Championship in Alberta.
Ovechkin largely sidestepped the geopolitical aspects of the dispute, though he supported athletes’ desire to play more broadly.
“Well, guys, I’m not there,” Ovechkin said when asked about the discussions. “I’m not sitting there. I’m not making any decisions. As an athlete, we just want to play, and that’s it.”
Almost immediately after the CAS ruling came down, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made it clear that Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be permitted to represent their countries on Canadian soil while the war in Ukraine continues.
“While Russia and Belarus are supporting this illegal, unjustified, horrific war in Ukraine, as long as that’s going on, there will be none of those athletes competing for their countries in Canada,” Carney said last week. “So if you’re asking specifically about the World Juniors, the Russians will not be there.”
The Canadian government plans to prevent Russia and Belarus’ participation in the tournament through its immigration powers, which would allow them to stop the countries’ athletes from entering the country to compete under their national symbols. The World Juniors are scheduled to run December 26 through January 5 in Edmonton and Red Deer.
Asked to respond to Carney’s comments, Ovechkin offered some slight pushback on the continued blanket ban of his countrymen.
“Well, how I say it’s his thoughts, his decisions, and I don’t know how it’s going to work out,” Ovechkin said. “But I’m pretty sure if you’re going to ask the fans, the fans want to see best players out there, and the fans want to see young generation players who are going to be future stars, future NHLers. But it’s not up to us.
“As an athlete, you want to represent your country. Doesn’t matter which – World Championship, Olympic Games, European Championship – you just want to go out there and play, represent your country.”
Beyond the general sporting landscape regarding Russia’s teams and athletes, Ovechkin was also asked to comment on his personal participation in President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian regime. Ahead of the 2026-27 NHL season, Ovechkin appeared in a campaign ad for the Putin-aligned United Russia party and has long backed Putin, most notably helping launch the PutinTeam movement ahead of Russia’s 2018 presidential election.
Ovechkin’s support has drawn increased and continued scrutiny, and he was directly asked Tuesday if he was “comfortable being used as a propaganda tool by the Russian state.” Ovechkin quickly answered, “Nobody using me.”
According to CTV News Ottawa, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), a political lobbying group representing citizens of Ukrainian heritage, is planning a rally titled “No War Crimes in Ottawa” outside the Senators’ Canadian Tire Centre to protest Ovechkin’s support for Putin’s government and call for the federal government to impose sanctions on the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer.
The UCC previously called on the Canadian government to bar Ovechkin from entering the country, citing inadmissibility under the nation’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.
“I just heard about it this morning, and I don’t know what to say,” Ovechkin said when asked about the planned demonstration. “Lots of protests going on around the world.”
When asked if any of the conversation surrounding Ovechkin is a distraction to the rest of the Capitals, head coach Spencer Carbery quickly dismissed those concerns and turned attention toward trying to beat a Senators team that has won two games in a row coming into Tuesday night’s contest.
“Honestly, it doesn’t,” Carbery said. “And I’m not trying to dodge the question. It’s just we’re a family in here, and O is our captain. We keep it very, very focused on what we need to accomplish as a team. And that’s what we’re focused on is tonight’s game against Ottawa.”
The Capitals and Senators are set for a 7 pm puck drop, the first of two games on Washington’s road trip this week. In 63 career games against the Senators, Ovechkin has recorded 65 points (39g, 26a).
