MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/. Russian Sports Minister Mikhail Degtyarev vowed on Thursday to personally congratulate ice hockey player Alexander Ovechkin if the latter manages to beat the NHL’s all-time goals record held by Canada’s Wayne Gretzky.
"We will certainly extend our congratulations to Alexander [Ovechkin]," Degtyarev, who is also the president of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), said at a news conference at TASS headquarters. "The first thing we will do is send him a telegram."
"But when he arrives, I'm sure that fans will be waiting for him at the airport with bread and salt," the minister continued. "Though bread and salt is usually for guests [of our country], while Ovechkin is a true Russian, one of our own."
Ovechkin is second in National Hockey League (NHL) history with 874 goals, trailing only the great one himself Wayne Gretzky of Canada, who had 894 goals in his NHL career.
The 39-year-old Ovechkin is under contract with the Washington Capitals through 2026.
Ovechkin signed with the NHL’s Washington’s Capitals in 2004. The Russian player led the Caps to a Stanley Cup title in 2018, the only one of his career.
In 2008, 2012 and 2014, "Ovie," as he is called by his fans, won gold medals at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships to go along with his two silver and four bronze medals at the world championships.
During a rally of the newly-elected US president’s supporters at the Capital One Arena in Washington last Sunday, US President Donald Trump called Russian hockey player Alexander Ovechkin "a great player."
Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated later that "He [Ovechkin] is looked at as a big-time player in America’s biggest league. This has no relevance to our [Russian] audience."