Viktor Voronin, Dynamo Moscow’s president, spoke to TASS earlier this week and answered several questions about the team’s hometown hero, Alex Ovechkin, giving clues to what the Capitals captain’s next steps could be after his NHL days are over.
Voronin addressed Ovechkin’s possible future with the team on the ice, saying that Dynamo was ready to talk to the high-scoring winger when his time in the NHL ends.
Voronin also expounded upon Ovechkin’s current role as an advisor with the KHL team — a job Ovi’s held since 2010 — and suggested he’d be open to giving Ovi much more responsibility in the future.
“He is an advisor to the club’s general director,” Voronin explained to TASS and translated by Google Translate. “We consult with Alexander when we are looking for players from North America. He gives us recommendations, assessments, offers some options, and we focus on them. Therefore, in terms of all these issues, we practically agree on many things with him, his assessment is very important for us. In terms of the club’s play, he also worries when we lose, calls the coaching staff back. This is purely friendly, human contact, and also sporting.”
The Dynamo president added, “I would be happy to see him on our club’s management team.”
Ovechkin’s NHL opinions and relationships have been valuable to Dynamo over the years, as each KHL team can include up to five different foreign players on their roster.
Per KHL Regulations:
Not more than five Hockey Players with a status of “Foreign Player” may be included in the team’s roster for any one Game.
…
Not more than one goalkeeper with a status of “Foreign Player” may be included in the team’s roster for any one Game.
Over the last decade-plus, Dynamo has served as a bridge to other Capitals players — both in the NHL and in the minor leagues — looking to continue their careers overseas. Players like Dmitrij Jaskin, Stan Galiev, Jakub Klepis, and Michal Cajkovsky have all signed on with the club in the past. Ovechkin famously convinced Nicklas Backstrom to play with him on Dynamo Moscow during the 2012 NHL lockout. He also tried to recruit goaltender Zach Fucale, but the 2023 Calder Cup champion with the Hershey Bears ended up signing with Evgeny Kuznetsov’s former club, Traktor Chelyabinsk.
Voronin stressed that the team would put no pressure on Ovechkin to make any decisions and pointed out that the Russian winger has other projects that will take his time, like “building a sports palace for children.”
“We really do have very close, kind, friendly, sporting relations with Ovechkin,” Voronin said, “When Alexander comes to Moscow for a long period, he always visits the club, the team, and periodically trains with us on the ice to stay in shape. Last year, we even tried to launch commercial projects with him. The coaching staff also maintains relations with him, he has good human relations with our veterans, current players. We hope that when his season ends, he will come and we will talk to him.”
The team could also choose to raise a banner to the rafters someday that honors Ovechkin — similar to how CSKA Moscow honored Sergei Fedorov in December.
“He is practically a legend of Russian hockey, and after his career ends, such a question can be considered,” Voronin said. “We will plan some other events together with him, whatever he wishes. As we have already said, to some extent he is already a legend of the club, he is inextricably linked with it.”
