- Ovechkin shut down the idea of coaching Russia’s national team at his own Ovi Cup press conference
- He pointed to Russia’s international ban when asked where the program stands
- Read below for his full answer, plus video from the Ovi Cup gala match
Alex Ovechkin does not want to coach Russia’s national team, and he was blunt about it.
The Washington Capitals captain took questions for about 15 minutes after the gala match at his own Ovi Cup tournament in Mytishchi. One of them was whether he planned to take over the national program any time soon.
“I’m still a player. I don’t want to be a player-coach,” Ovechkin told sports.ru’s Alexander Plekhanov. “Basically, we have skilled enough coaches. You have to want to lead the national team. I don’t want to yet.”
Here’s the full video from the star game that came before it:
Ovechkin skated on a line with his seven-year-old son Sergei in that video, and the two teams finished 8-8 before a shootout.
He also got a question about where the Russian program stands internationally.
“We haven’t been reinstated yet,” Ovechkin said. “Hockey hasn’t been allowed into official events. So right now, we’re fans.”
Russia has been shut out of IIHF competition since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and the federation extended that ban through 2026-27. His last appearance for his country came at the 2019 World Championship, where Russia took bronze.
Not every coaching question gets a no from him. Ovechkin said back in March that he would sign on as an assistant if Evgeni Malkin ever landed a head job somewhere, mostly because of what that locker room would sound like.
Most of the presser stayed loose. Ovechkin named his mother, two-time Olympic basketball champion Tatyana Ovechkina, as the idol of his life, and picked Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Mogilny as his hockey ones.
A front-office job looks likelier than a bench one anyway. Ovechkin has been listed as a senior advisor with Dynamo Moscow since 2010, the club he came up through, and he has already said Moscow is where he plans to live once he stops playing.
None of that is close. Ovechkin signed a one-year deal with Washington in July, turns 41 in September, and starts his 22nd NHL season this fall.
