Lengthy interviews with Alexander Ovechkin during the season are infrequent, and even more so as we approach Wayne Gretzky's record. The excitement is growing, there are more and more reporters at Capitals matches in any city, besides, Americans are filming a documentary about the Great Chase, which also takes up the time of the Great Eight. Nevertheless, Alexander agreed to talk to Izvestia and Sport-Express, answering the most pressing questions.
If you can't beat the record, that's okay.
— One Washington fan told me the other day before entering the arena that he dreams that you, having broken the record and scored the 900th goal, would sign a new contract with Washington and go for a thousand. Is this possible?
"I don't think so.
— Do you already have a decision about what will happen after next season, when the current contract ends? Return to Dynamo?
— Let's see. Most likely, yes, at Dynamo. If your health permits. It's hard to think for such a long time now.
— I recently spoke with Scotty Bowman and Bobby Clark, and both greats said that when Wayne Gretzky set the record for goals, they could not even imagine that it would ever be broken. And when did you believe it yourself? Back in 2016, in our conversation, you denied this possibility.
— The opportunity is now... It's heavy. Again, I'm not making up my mind, but doing my job. I'm doing what's necessary for the team, for the result. And there... If it works, it will work, if it doesn't work, it's okay.
— Does it matter to you if it happens this season or next season? Your teammates really want this to happen now.
— Again, I'm not thinking that far ahead. We have a game against Ottawa today. Let's see what happens in it (the Capitals won 5-4 in shootouts, Senators goalkeeper Linus Ullmark pulled Ovechkin's "dead" shot at the end of the first period. — Ed.). Then departure to New York. The schedule is very heavy, and we have to prepare for the playoffs right now. We've lost three matches in a row, so we need to put all our personal goals in the other direction and do everything possible to get us out of the situation we're in.
— Gordie Howe, who had the previous record in goals, went to the last matches before Gretzky's record. Now Wayne himself, along with NHL commissioner Gary Batman, will travel to your matches, starting with the 890th goal. How did you take this news, and have you ever talked to Hou?
— Yes, I talked to Howe a couple of times at the All-Star Game in Montreal (in 2009, the centennial year of the Montreal Canadiens. — Ed.). I've been in touch with Gretzky, and we talked on the phone recently. We have a good friendly relationship.
— What were we talking about now?
— He said that he is waiting for the opportunity to go to these games.
— Once upon a time in Los Angeles, you and your wives had a family dinner, and they say that you couldn't satisfy your curiosity and asked Gretzky just about everything.
— Of course! Because it's interesting how we used to prepare for matches and play. All the details are the clubs, the shape... Life doesn't stand still, everything changes. After all, I also found a time when we were playing with wooden clubs when we were little.
— This season you were at the Edmonton Museum, putting on Gretzky's gear. What were your feelings?
— Gloves, skates, helmet, clubs— everything else. They are small, heavy, and not very comfortable compared to today's uniforms. Gloves are made of leather. They needed to be kneaded for probably a month to become normal. I used to play in them when I was a kid, too. And the current ones are just put on — and they are already mashed up, ready.
— Gretzky told me that he once promised you his stick, but only when you win the Stanley Cup. And you reminded him of that right the day after the victory. Was it so important to you that you never forgot about it for a second?
- yes. Because it's worth a lot to be able to take a stick from players of Gretzky's caliber, Mario Lemieux, Joe Sakic. It was a very pleasant moment for me when I received it. The Gretzky stick is one of the best pieces in my collection.
Who doesn't want me to break the record? Probably the goalkeepers!
— You didn't have time to play against Gretzky, but you went on the ice against Jaromir Jagr, Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid. Who would you call the most talented hockey player you've ever played against?
— McDavid, of course, as well as McKinnon, Crosby, Malkin, Kucherov. There are a lot of talented, good hockey players. But I would not like to choose one of them.
— If you add up the goals in the regular season and the playoffs, you have 956 (958 now, after the conversation Ovechkin scored twice more. — Ed.). Gretzky has 1016, which is 60 more. Do you set yourself the task of beating Wayne in this category as well?
- no.
— And at least change a thousand?
— Again, I'm not guessing.
— My subscribers are interested in who you will dedicate the record—breaking puck to and what its fate will be - whether you will give it to your children, mom, to the Hockey Hall of Fame or somewhere else.
— You're talking about that again! We don't look that far!
— How do you manage to ignore the fact that history is happening around you? Is it easy to play as usual in such an environment and not let the psychological burden weigh you down?
— I've already gotten used to it during my career. It's not like this is my first season in the NHL. There is always some kind of pressure, some kind of talk. This is nothing new to me.
— Ottawa defender Artyom Zubov, against whom you go on the ice, said that the closer your achievement gets, the more opponents don't want to let you score. Are you on the ice in resistance, do you feel it in some lines?
— Throughout my career, the best defenders of the opponents have played against me, they watched me closely, they didn't give me space. But somehow I managed to score, so I will continue to do everything possible to upset them.
— According to an anonymous poll by The Athletic, 98 percent of NHL players want you to break Gretzky's record. Do you understand who the remaining two percent are?
— Most likely, they are goalkeepers, haha.
— Do you want to say anything to them, or indeed to those people who do not want you to beat this achievement?
— I don't know what I can tell them. Just send my regards!
— If we're talking about goalkeepers, what did you talk to Andrei Vasilevsky about during the previous match with Tampa even before he scored?
— He said that my sons want to take a picture with him after the game, and that's it.
— Which they did, both with Vasilevsky and with Kucherov. Is there a single goalkeeper who has been or remains the most difficult for you in the league?
— It was difficult for Vasilevsky to score the last time.
— It was successful after all!
— Yes, but it was difficult.
— You scored the most goals in your career against four monsters — Marc-Andre Fleury, Henrik Lundqvist, Carey Price and Sergey Bobrovsky. Which one of them is the most unpleasant for you as a goalkeeper?
— It's hard to play against every hockey player, including the goalkeeper. If you get into an NHL team and you're considered number one in it, it can't just happen. All the goalkeepers here are strong.
— At the beginning of this season, you became one of six players in history who have exchanged an amazing 700 goals plus 700 assists. How important is this to you, considering that many people consider you a pure sniper, and who do you consider yourself in hockey terms?
— A player of the Washington Capitals team, who else! And, of course, it's nice to be in such company. It's a team sport, and without my partners, without all the support I get from my family and the guys, it would be unrealistic to do it.
I'm sure McBain's punch was unintentional.
— Was there a difference in your preparation for last season and this season? And if so, how did you take into account the lessons of the previous season, the first half of which you did not succeed?
— I think it's better to talk about this with Pasha, my coach (Pavel Burlachenko, Ovechkin's personal fitness trainer. — Ed.). He'd better explain what he changed.
— There were rumors in the press that, having arrived from Moscow to Washington, you lost 15 kilograms here. Is this true or nonsense?
— No, I didn't throw anything off.
— You started the season phenomenally and even led the race for the Maurice Richard Trophy. Did you ever think about competing for the jubilee trophy for the best sniper, which you won nine times?
— That is, I got injured. Of course, it was a shame, a pity. Because in fact, our team played well. We constantly scored points, and the team won.
— Belarusian Alexey Protas has joined your team with Dylan Stroom perfectly.
— Well done! All his successes are well—deserved. He works very hard on himself.
— Is it possible to say that you have already established the same interaction with Strom in a season and a half as you did with Niklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov?
— A good guy, talented and still young. He's doing the right thing by working on himself. Yes, we have a connection!
— And how are you working on yourself now? Michael Jordan said that the older he got, the more he trained. What has changed in your daily routine, exercise, and nutrition?
— It is clear that you make some adjustments over time both in preparation for the season and during it. But let them stay with me.
— You told me last year that you have never met Jordan and you dream about it. Has it failed yet?
— Not yet.
— When you suffered the most serious injury of your career last November, did it occur to you that now you can forget about your personal achievements for this season and, most importantly, how should you recover? How hard is it to recover from a fracture at that age?
— It is clear that when you get any injury at all, the sensations are not pleasant. And first it was necessary to understand the recovery period, and then do everything that was required in such a situation. How much did I miss — a month?
— More. One and a half.
— I've been working on myself all this time, making some conclusions. It's good that the recovery went well.
— Everyone was amazed that two days later you went to the NBA and you didn't have a cast.
— Yes, they didn't put a cast on me or anything else.
— Are you sure that the blow was unintentional on the part of Jack McBain from Utah?
— Of course, I'm sure.
— It's absolutely amazing to me how, at the age of 39, after a month and a half out of hockey, you immediately started playing as if nothing had happened, scoring four goals in the first five matches. Did Toronto's empty-net goal in the first match help psychologically?
— Of course, I helped. As well as the help of the guys, who immediately began to support me in everything. Of course, it was physically difficult, because training is one thing, but playing when you go out on the ice, and there are completely different speeds, is another. It must have been difficult for five matches, because I had to get into a rhythm again, remember everything I had done before.
— When the goals didn't come in the first few months of last season, when I got injured this season, did I ever start doubting myself? And if he suddenly started, how did he remove these doubts?
— No, but why doubt it? I'm not 18, I'm almost 40. He became more reasonable, more experienced in some moments.
— Dynamo football player Konstantin Tyukavin, whom you know well, has now suffered a serious knee injury. And you've already called him with words of support. What do you want to wish him?
— Recover and not get upset. I think he will come out much stronger than before the injury.
With a strong team, we have a good locker room.
— Does head coach Spencer Carbury come up with something new for your game? And how would you describe a relationship with a young specialist in general?
— We have a great relationship, trusting. And what does he do to make me play better — you can always knock on his door and ask about it, haha!
— Why does Carbury let you out when the other team's goal is empty, if you lead by two goals? Would you like to ask him to do it more often and with one?
- no. It all depends on the situation. We have guys who play well at five-on-six. (Later, in the match against Seattle, Carbery will release Ovechkin with the Capitals' advantage of one goal, and the forward will score. — Ed.).
— The other day, he said that if you have the opportunity to score a record goal in an empty net, you probably won't want to. Is he right?
— There is still a long way to go before this record!
— In Washington, both the squad and the game have changed dramatically this season. Did you express your wish to the management last offseason to strengthen, and was the transformation of the Capitals a pleasant surprise for you?
— Of course, it was nice to see such players who joined our team. And immediately it produced a result. And the most important thing is that with a strong team, we have a good locker room. Let's see how it goes in the playoffs.
— Which puck gave you the most pleasure this season? For some reason, it seems to me that Ottawa is 0-0 in overtime.
— Yes, let's take her.
— Is it because it's overtime?
- yes.
— Recently you said about Matvey Michkov that everything is fine with him, but the main thing is that he doesn't show off. Everyone paid attention to this. Did he really beat you up on the ice?
— No, why did you snub me? It's just there when... No, I'm not going to say this now, I don't see the point. Everything is fine.
— Scotty Bowman is surprised that your throwing power doesn't decrease with age. When you scored almost from the blue line to the league's best goalkeeper Connor Helliback, when you hit the Ottawa goal with a long—range shot from the crossbar, it's clear that this is true. Is it natural, or is there some special work that needs to be done now?
— Yes, I'm making some adjustments to my routine, to my training process. But then again, it's all going to stay with me.
— And what is the secret of your snap, which, as everyone points out, is unpredictable for goalkeepers in terms of the trajectory of the puck? How would you put it succinctly?
— I don't know myself!
The dream of playing at the Olympics in Milan remains
— Soon the IOC will decide the fate of our national team in terms of participation in the Olympics in Milan. What would you like to say to the people who will make the decision?
— Nothing depends on us, the players, here.
— But do you still have a dream of playing in Milan?
— Of course, of course!
— If you were given five options to choose from, who would you like to see yourself in five years, what would you choose today? 1. President of HC Dynamo. 2. The head coach of HC Dynamo. 3. The president of the Ovechkin Hockey Academy, which is currently under construction. 4. The politician. 5. Just a dad who gives all his time to the family.
— Most likely, the last one.
— Last year I asked your wife Nastya what you don't like. She thought about it, and then said: "When the youngest child drags our dog Blake by the tail."
- yes.
"Is this going on?"
— It's very rare now, but sometimes it happens.
— And what more global things don't you like?
— Giving an interview, haha!
— I got the hint, I'm winding down soon. Was Blake the dog named after someone?
- no. We were thinking about what to call it. Our dog is black, so we used the word black in the name. That's how they came to Blake.
— Is there a person in the world, of any profession, whose genius you envy with white envy?
- no. There is no need to be envious. Everyone has their own destiny, their own life. And let everyone live it, and not envy others.
— Is there a book or a movie that has influenced you the most in your life and you could recommend them to young people?
— I'll call the movie The Shawshank Redemption.
— Do you dream about the Dynamo—Washington farewell match, especially since the Capitals have never flown to Russia in your presence? Will you try to organize it, if the situation in the world allows?
— If it allows, then we will think about it!
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
