One more day of Alex Ovechkin questions at Kettler today as he spoke about his two-game suspension. One topic: Will the hit – and recent penalties over the last nine months – affect Ovechkin’s reputation around the league among fans, media and opposing players. Remember, he’s still a star attraction when he plays in most Canadian cities and of course here in Washington. But that’s not exactly the case in Pittsburgh, New York or Philadelphia – or in Don Cherry’s house for that matter.
“He’s a villain because he’s great,” Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said. “It just seems now you go into other cities and people boo great players. And that just seems to be the norm – in hockey anyway. Whether you sign as a free agent and go somehwhere else, you come back to the city that you played in [and] instead of being applauded for the things you accomplished in that city, you’re being vilified. And I think people love to boo Alex because he’s so good.”
Caps forward Brooks Laich previously weighed in Tuesday while defending his teammate. I posted it yesterday on the blog, but the quote didn’t make our print edition this morning so I thought I’d bring it back.
“[Ovechkin] doesn’t care. He cares about winning hockey games. He doesn’t care what some fan says or what some media say. If he did – I don’t even know if he reads English. He speaks it okay, but I don’t know if he reads it. But he doesn’t care about public opinion. He just wants to win hockey games.”
