Citing war in Ukraine, dozens of groups call on NHL to reject hockey matchups with Russian league

As one Russian hockey star is being lauded for his accomplishments in the National Hockey League, more than two dozen groups are calling on the North American league to reject the idea of on-ice matchups with the league from his homeland, Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League. 

The day after Alexander Ovechkin became the top goal scorer in NHL history, a coalition of Ukrainian-American and Ukrainian-Canadian organizations argued such matches “would be an affront to millions of American and Canadian NHL fans and to people of Ukrainian descent in both countries.”

The group urged NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to “express prompt, public and unequivocal opposition to this suggestion” in a letter sent Monday.

It was signed by more than 30 humanitarian and community organizations.

“We call on you to reject any collaboration between the NHL and the KHL or any competition between the two league’s players. Such initiatives would forever stain your organization’s reputation, facilitate the broader reintegration of the Russian Federation into world sporting bodies, undermine the NHL’s own stated values, and alienate millions of hockey fans,” the letter said.

The letter, first reported by NBC News, comes after a call last month between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin during which Putin suggested that American and Russian skaters play matches against each other. According to the Kremlin, Trump “supported” the idea. 

The NHL on Monday said it was “not part of the original conversation, and there have been no further discussions.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said last month that while hockey was mentioned on the leaders’ call, the White House is “more interested in securing a peace deal than scheduling hockey games right now.”

Last month, the NHL said that it was aware of the conversation, but “not a party to those discussions, and it would be inappropriate for us to comment at this time,” The Associated Press reported.

 But Razom for Ukraine, a U.S.-based organization that co-signed and helped send the letter Monday to the NHL, hoped for a stronger position from the league.

“So the NHL has come out with a statement that most certainly did not put to rest concerns and worries,” said Razom for Ukraine’s director of public engagement, Daniel Balson. “Our letter simply asks for the NHL to make plain and public its opposition to any such collaboration. 

“As NHL and KHL players would ostensibly be playing together on the ice, Russian bombs would be raining fire on Ukraine civilians.”

The Russian government did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

 “The Kremlin has a long history of using sports to whitewash its crimes. Certainly hockey, but really across the board, Putin’s interested in portraying Russia as a modern member in good standing of the international community that wins medals and demonstrates athletic excellence. But of course, this is all belied by the fact that, as we’re having this conversation, Russia’s military are committing war crimes in Ukraine, they’re occupying territory, and they’re killing many, many innocent individuals, innocent civilians, including hundreds of Ukrainian athletes who lost their lives,” Balson said.

Hours before the coalition sent the letter, Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals star Alexander scored his 895th career, topping Wayne Gretzky’s record.

Ovechkin has long been seen as closely tied to Russian President Putin, even smiling with the leader in his Instagram profile picture. And Putin congratulated the athlete on his milestone goal.

Ovechkin did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

“This is somebody who has proudly proclaimed his affiliation with a Russian leadership that is unrepentant in its abuse of some of the most vulnerable Ukrainians In the world, that’s territorially expansionist, that has launched an unprovoked and incredibly violent aggression and that has kidnapped kids. It’s incumbent on somebody like Ovechkin to dissociate himself from the Kremlin,” said Balson.

At the time of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Ovechkin told reporters “Please, no more war. It doesn’t matter who is in the war, Russia, Ukraine, different countries. “