Open Letter to Wayne Gretzky – Don’t Validate Ovechkin

In all likelihood, the all-time goal record of 894 remains yours for just a few more weeks. While not the 2,856 career points, untouchable 51 game point streak, or challenge to the moniker of hockey’s “Great One,” Moscow will promote Alexander Ovechkin’s 895th goal as the most consequential achievement in sport, secured by one of their ideological soldiers.

This is why what you do, as someone who publicly embraced having some Ukrainian heritage, participated in the hockey documentary “Uke” about NHL stars with Ukrainian roots, and even joked about being scolded by your grandmother in the Ukrainian language, has immeasurable significance. 

I implore you to build on your sentiment of February of 2022, advocating for the Russians to not be allowed to participate in international hockey. This atypical political assertion was two years after graciously voicing the hope to travel with the Washington Capitals in the final stretch and shake Ovechkin’s hand upon the feat.

While there has not been a robust reaffirmation of this intention since Russia’s mass-invasion, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman endlessly turns his head, pretending not to see the evil that saturates his League by reason of Ovechkin’s unwavering support of Vladimir Putin. Instead, Bettman voices delight over the opportunity to “bunk” with you while following the Capitals, in anticipation of witnessing the milestone.

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Like other players from Ukraine, Svitolina did not shake hands with her Russian opponent because of the war, and wrote “The spirit of Ukraine” on a TV camera lens at the end of a 6-4, 6-1 victory.

Washed from the League’s collective memory is how Ovechkin entered the political arena by hailing Putin’s belligerence in 2014, exhibiting a sign on social media that read “Save Children From Fascism,” a slogan championing the invasion of Crimea and eastern Ukraine. 

Ovechkin followed, later that year, with this revealing birthday message to Putin on Instagram, “We respect your actions and will support you in everything always.” Three years later he spearheaded the social media movement “The Putin Team” and posted videos encouraging fealty, one while wearing a shirt depicting Putin and Sergei Shoigu in casual army gear. Ovechkin was forthright when he announced in 2017, “I never hid my relationship with our president. I always openly supported him.”

The despot Ovechkin pledged allegiance to is responsible for incalculable suffering, has long rejected Ukraine’s sovereignty and according to prominent scholars, think-tanks and lawmakers, acts with genocidal intent. Despite Ovechkin’s generic appeal for “no more war” at a press conference in late February of 2022, Ovechkin’s conduct remains obvious, as he uses each NHL off-season to make symbolic appearances with Moscow’s Dynamo sports clubs (hockey and even soccer) that serve his state’s propaganda system. 

As pointed out by law professor & Geneva Centre Fellow George Monastiriakos, much like Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union,  sports development in Russia is inexorably intertwined with their military industrial complex, with Dynamo maintaining close ties to the Federal Security Service.

It is astounding what the NHL and media will overlook. Ovechkin, for example, donned Capitals gear while playing in the Dynamo Alumni game last May. And while he opted to rest during the NHL’s 2024 All-Star game, he made sure to participate in Moscow’s version last July, where Russians from the NHL squared off against the KHL’s best. Ovechkin also publicly yearns to finish his career with Dynamo and once again represent Russia in the Olympics – despite the tenuous ban over continuing atrocities in Ukraine.

The NHL Commissioner’s conduct has been correspondingly shameful. Bettman lacks even the tinge of courage to compel Ovechkin to remove the Instagram profile picture he still shares with Putin. If cheerfully standing next to a modern tyrant without peer in such an active social media image does not violate the League’s morality clause (which mandates refraining from conduct detrimental to the League) it is difficult to imagine what would breach this provision. Essentially, Bettman has become one of Putin’s polezniye duraki (“useful idiots”).

In deciding what role to play in the next few weeks, I humbly ask you to consider a few Ukrainians who picked up the stick but ultimately sacrificed themselves for the way of life that has allowed the NHL to thrive: Oleksandr Khmil, Makar Yerofeyev, Yaroslav Harkavko, Oleksii Lohinov, Denys Pashynski, Bohdan Titov and Maksym Brahin.

Khmil, 42, played professionally for 18 years, including during a championship run for ATEK Kyiv in 2007. He also coached a women’s club, Ukrainochka to a championship in 2021. He joined the war effort in the first days of the full-scale invasion, defended Kyiv and volunteered to serve in treacherous warzones, falling near Bakhmut.   

Pashynski, 45, was once a goalie for the national team that won gold at a 1999 International competition, Winter Universiade, played in Slovakia. He succumbed to artillery fire while serving with the 101st Guard Brigade near Dnipro.

Yerofeyev, 24, attended a prestigious military academy in Kyiv, which eventually brought him to the frontlines and promotion to deputy commander of the 92nd Mechanized Brigade. He defended Kharkiv, Kupyansk and Klishchiivka, once eloping from a hospital to rejoin his men. He was killed assisting an International Legion volunteer from Lithuania. In hockey, he played for various clubs in Dnipro (Zenit, Yastruby and Aurora).

Harkavko, 26, was a former youth player who seemed so full of exuberance as an aspiring comic and media personality, who once took part in the well-known League of Laughter comedy series.

Lohinov, 23, was a youth medalist in Kyiv, who became a geography teacher after graduating from Taras Shevchenko National University. He was an only child who perished serving in the National Guard.

Bohdan Titov and Maksym Brahin, both 27, played for an amateur team (Aurora) and were killed as civilians in a missile attack in Zaporizhzhia. Titov was captain of the team as well as a youth coach. A spokesman for the club wrote: “They gave their heart and strength to their favorite game in their hometown, were true friends, an inspiration for the team and an example for the younger generation. Their energy, dedication and love of hockey will be remembered by all who had the privilege of playing and interacting with them.”

They are a fraction of the hundreds of athletes lost. Beyond lives, it is also worth considering how the system Ovechkin supports is destroying Ukraine’s infrastructure for development, including an array of ice rinks, most notably their largest, the Altair ice arena in Donetsk.

It is the sacrifice of the aforementioned and countless others that deserves Your attention in the next few months. Each is a reminder of the price of freedom, whose contributions are infinitely more momentous than any hockey tally. Consequently, you, Mr. Gretzky, are the last hope to break the spell that obscures the malevolence the NHL is planning to celebrate.