Captain Ovechkin: “It’s a big honor for me but I’m going to play the same”

Captain Ovechkin: “It’s a big honor for me but I’m going to play the same” (Photo © Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

Russian NHL superstar Alexander Ovechkin was named Washington Capitals’ captain on Tuesday. The position was vacant after the former captain Chris Clark has been traded with defenseman Milan Jurcina for Columbus Blue Jackets’ Jason Chimera.

“If I need to say something, I will say something,” Ovechkin told the Washington Post. “But I will show what I can do on the ice. It’s a big honor for me. I’m going to do my best, but I don’t want to concentrate on having a ‘C’ on my heart. I’m just going to play the same.”

The Capitals won the match 4-2, but Ovechkin has been left out of the score sheet. Alexander Semin scored two goals, including the game winning one.

“I had talked to a lot of [players] the last couple of days and they said Alex is the only choice,” said Bodreau to the Washington Post. “He’s our leader, he’s our guy. What shows he was ready was when I talked to him two or three days ago, he said he would accept the responsibility but ‘only if my teammates want it.’ He was already thinking about the team instead of himself, which is what captains do.”

Ovechkin is the fourteenth captain in the Capitals’ history and the sixth Russian player who to have the same honor. He succeeds Pavel Bure (Florida Panthers), Alexander Mogilny (Buffalo Sabres), Alexei Yashin (Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders), Alexei Zhamnov (Chicago Blackhawks) and Ilya Kovalchuk (Atlanta Thrashers).