Capitals star left wing Alex Ovechkin is Russian to the core. The two-time Hart Trophy winner said time and again last season that playing in the Winter Olympics in his home country in 2014 is a “dream” and that he would be bitterly disappointed if the NHL tries to prevent its players from participating.
Ovechkin is backing up his words. He was named Monday an “official ambassador” to the 2014 games in Sochi, the Black Sea resort town that will host the Olympics when Ovechkin is still just 28. But will he even have the chance? NHL owners and general managers were not happy with the way injuries were reported back to them during the Turin Olympics in 2006 and tabled any decision on participating in 2014 after the Vancouver games next February. The issue needs to be collectively bargained with the NHL Player’s Union. But several Russian stars, including Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin, have said publicly they will play in Sochi no matter what. That sets up a high-profile battle between the league and its best players.
