Flyers

Russian NHL Players are Gonna be Asked About Putin, Aren’t They?

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Feb 24th, 2022 · 2:58 PM EST

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We’re not gonna get too deep into the Russia/Ukraine stuff because we’re a sports blog, but let’s be honest – this is the topic of the day. Everybody is talking about what’s going on in Eastern Europe right now.

There are a lot of sports tie-ins. We’ve got Russian and Ukrainian athletes in the United States and they’re plying their trade in Europe as well. Most notably, people are going back to this 2019 interview with the Rangers’ Artemi Panarin, who can’t stand Vladimir Putin and said this about the Russian President:

https://twitter.com/KHLreplays/status/1496847970007801856?s=20&t=PPsuKv67im-Zs5vScsR9jw

It’s really interesting. There are a lot of Russian guys in the NHL. Ivan Provorov was born in Russia and moved here as a teenager. There’s Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, the Tampa guys, etc. They usually stay pretty mum on political/national issues, but some do cross that line. Ovechkin is pro-Putin and his Instagram profile picture is a photo of the two of them together, so it makes thoughts like this intriguing:

Expecting Alex Ovechkin to be available to media in the coming days. He was requested this AM, but Caps want to keep the focus on tonight’s game vs NYR.

Ovechkin wants further time before speaking on Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Ovechkin’s wife, kids, mom + dad are in Russia.

— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) February 24, 2022

The Flyers play on Saturday, so we’ll see if Provy is asked about the conflict.

It does beg the question though – how much stock do we put into what these guys say? They’re just hockey players, and this is a huge thing that has nothing to do with sports. Do we care what they have to say? Does it put them in a compromising situation? Is it a safety issue if they come out and condemn Putin? Keep in mind, a lot of them have family members in Russia, and they might not want to say anything that could put them at risk. Expect a lot of carefully chosen words and/or a request to not talk about the situation at all. Media outlets are going to have to ask themselves if there’s real value in broaching the subject with athletes.

In the soccer world meantime, UEFA pulled the Champion’s League final from St. Petersburg. Some of the Ukrainian players are using their platform to make statements, like Atalanta’s Ruslan Malinovskyi:

Ukraine international Ruslan Malinovskyi scored for Atalanta in their #UEL game against Olympiakos earlier and revealed a “no war in Ukraine” t-shirt 🙏🏻 #OLYATA pic.twitter.com/SJoekqXvHk

— Sport Social Podcast Network (@TheSportSocial) February 24, 2022

And there’s also this:

Fedor Smolov is one of the first Russian footballers to speak out against Russia's invasion of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/aoZ2S8oHDk

— B/R Football (@brfootball) February 24, 2022

There will no doubt be more to come.