Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis revealed on Friday that the team is "all in" on having the Caps play a regular season NHL game in Alex Ovechkin's native Russia.
Following a trip to China over the summer, Ovechkin, who is an international ambassador for the league, expressed interest of playing a NHL game on his home soil to the Caps owner, who has committed to try his best to obliged his captain.
“Alex has suggested that we do it, and we feel he has done everything we ever asked him, so we have become advocates,” Leonsis said. “If we can figure it out, we are all in on this. We will wait to see if the league can handle the scheduling and how it will work with the U.S. and Russia, but we would like to do it, and we think it would be good for the game.”
Preliminary discussions have taken place, according to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, to have a regular season game take place in Russia during either the 2020-21 season or the 2021-22 season. Obviously with Ovi's deal expiring at the conclusion of the 2020-21 season, the first option is the best option for all involved.
But who would the Caps play? Well, according to Leonsis, the Blues may be the visiting team if the NHL does wind up being able to oblige Ovechkin and Leonsis' request, acknowledging that it is a league decision at this point.
“He has been perfect in how he has handled everything, and so it is a small way we can say thank you, and he deserves that,” Leonsis said. “We have a lot of Russian players, and they are talking about us playing St. Louis. They have a great Russian player [in forward Vladimir Tarasenko]. I've never been to Russia, so I look forward to doing it if we can, if we can get permission and they can work everything out. Really, right now, it's more in the league's hands.”
The possibility of this occurring is extremely exciting for all involved, according to Bettman, but an idea of this magnitude will not come without its challenges.
“The logistics are not simple, and so I can't predict if it's realistic,” Bettman said, “but it is something that is certainly under discussion. And for a lot of reasons it could be very attractive because, obviously, if the Capitals were to go to Russia, bringing Alex Ovechkin back to Russia with his teammates would be a big deal.”
All that said, it would really be something if the NHL can make something of this opportunity, not just as a thank you to the best pure goalscorer of his generation, but also to hockey fans around the world who will get to witness history.
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