Former star goaltender Dominik Hasek came down hard on the NHL and Gary Bettman during the All-Star Game.
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On Twitter, the Czech denounced that the league let Alex Ovechkin’s son skate and be in the spotlight during the skills competition. It was one of the few interesting or touching moments of the competition.
However, Hasek did not see it the same way.
“The NHL has hit rock bottom! To let Ovechkin’s son skate on the ice during the competition is to spit in the face of approximately 500 dead children, thousands who have been injured and/or kidnapped. The NHL and Gary Bettman must pay for this heinous act.
The Hall of Famer called for the suspension of Russian players from the NHL last year. “If the NHL does not suspend them, it is indirectly co-responsible for the deaths in Ukraine,” he wrote on Twitter in February 2022.
Recall that Ovechkin had been strongly criticized for having shown her support for President Putin in the past.
“I am convinced that many of us support Vladimir Putin. So, let’s unite and show everyone a united and strong Russia!”, he wrote in 2017 on a website in support of the Russian president.
After the start of the war in Ukraine, Ovechkin also indicated that Putin remains his “president” by calling for an end to the war. “No matter who is at war – Russia, Ukraine or other countries – I think we have to live in peace.”
Which had reacted Hasek, who had called the attacker a “chicken”.