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Archive 1

Factual Error

As of May 28, 2008:

"He is the highest paid NHL player ever, signing a 13-year contract extension worth $124 million with the Capitals, which averages $9.5 million per year, the richest in NHL history."

$9.5 million per year is NOT the richest salary in nhl history. This may just be an awkwardly worded sentence, but it should be removed or altered by a registered user. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.231.20.169 (talk) 02:14, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

While $9.5 million per year is far from the highest salary (Sergei Fedorov was paid $21 million for a year in the late 90's), the $124 million is by far the largest contract. It's all fixed now. Kaiser matias (talk) 05:35, 27 May 2008 (UTC)


As of March 06, 2008:

His hat trick against boston is listed as the fourth of his career when in fact it was his fifth [he had a 4 goal, 1 assist game agains the Montreal Canadiens resulting in a 5-4 Washington victory while this game is acknowlesged in the article the author has forgotten to count it as a hat trick thus the Ottawa game is listed as his 3rd, the montreal game is skipped and the boston game is counted as a 4th. when it should be: Ottawa game -- 3rd hat trick, Montreal game - 4th hat trick, Boston game - 5th hat trick]

Removed Sections

"You added Svatos as a rival, but not Phaneuf? Prucha? Say something along the lines of '...his fellow rookies Dion Phaneuf and Sidney Crosby. Rivals Petr Prucha and Marek Svatos were injured midway through the season, effectively removing them from the rookie race.' -Earthhuman


"His parents say they knew he would be an athlete when Alexander chose to run up the steps to their apartment rather than take the elevator." Who cares he has sweet dangles

That's an awful example- Even I run up the stairs, and I'm no athelete. I deleted it. -Earthhuman


  • Other Rookies*

I don't think that Crosby was O's only rookie rival this year, so I added Svatos' name to a sentence. cheater 16:48, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

The number of images here went beyond fair use. We can only claim [[fair use] if an image is really required for the article. I've reduced the images to only four. These four I will claim as fair use. Please don't reinstate the other images without providing evidence of their copyright status — Zeimusu | Talk 01:01, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I was told to take this to the discussion page, so here you go:

I still have serious legal doubts: it obviously comes from television footage, and there's usually a warning that any broadcast, redistribution, et cetera is prohibited without express written consent. But I couldn't find that in writing anywhere, so I'll just let it be an open question for now (I used the same copyright tag as the last guy, but I'm very skeptical. I'd say it's more fair-use than anything).

However, the "Sidney who?" is a pretty blatant shot at Sidney Crosby. While I agree in sentiment, it's kind of cheap and sophomoric and really has no place here, especially given the rigid point-of-view stance. I replaced it with another image to improve the NPOV side of things.

I really don't mean to come off as anal as I probably am -- hell, I love the kid -- but when something as blatant as that pops up, it's kind of hard not to edit it out. I hope that the new image is a happy medium (it's better, anyway) and if it is legally sketchy, Wikipedia will probably take it down anyway. --Ed's Babe 23:00, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

I loaded the original image, however I did not create it, it was sent to me in an email. As for the "Sidney Who", I didn't even notice it until after someone pointed it out and pulled it off -- lesson of the day: watch the entire GIF closely before loading.  :-)

Scott930 | Talk 02:35, 20 Jan 2006 (UTC)

Nothing personal: just fixed the POV. Further on the legal front: I noticed that you got a copyright warning for the original image, so I just sent off a request to foxsports.com. With any luck, we'll get comfirmation one way or another (leave it up or take it down) soon. It's a bit of a crapshoot, but it's better than a 100% chance of being removed (if we just left it to the administrators). If that doesn't work, I can try Comcast SportsNet because there's no way to tell where the feed came from: it's not trying to buck the system; it could honestly be either team's broadcast. I'll drop a message here when I hear back from FSN.

P.S.: I was at last night's game: two more points for Ovy and for the Caps!--Ed's Babe 21:19, 20 January 2006 (UTC)


Under the "Washington Capitals" segment, it says "On January 31, 2008, he had another 5-point performance (4 goals, 1 assist) in a 5-4 overtime victory against the Montreal Canadiens." As far as I know, Jan 2008 hasn't even happened yet. I think this should be 2007. (Last day of 2007, understandable) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Spearman77 (talk • contribs) 08:14, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

Um, January 31, 2008 happened 4 months ago. --SmashvilleBONK! 16:08, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

No response from Fox

It's been two and a half weeks since I e-mailed my copyright request to Fox Sports about the image and I haven't gotten a response. I take this to mean that either:

  1. They're okay with it;
  2. They don't care enough to bother;
  3. They're blowing us off entirely;
  4. They're caught up in red tape because the regional Arizona FSN and Comcast Sportsnet both aired the game, and it might have to go to the NHL for review, and they could do any of 1-3, or
  5. They're in the midst of weeks of intense deliberations about whether an animated .gif of Alexander Ovechkin may be used on a Web site.

Whatever it is, I'm taking it as a "yes" until/unless I hear otherwise. Number four is extremely unlikely since I'd have received an e-mail saying that they're checking on it. Again, I'm taking the two and a half weeks without even a form letter as a signal that they don't care. We should be good to go. Ed's Babe 06:42, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

Being as it is a highly profitible video clip, it is unlikely they would let anyone host it without paying, and as such there is no way we can claim fair use. ed g2s • talk 19:05, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, it's real profitable. People are lining up to buy this animated gif from FOX... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.198.2.161 (talk) 13:45, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Profitable or not, it is property of a company. That company needs to grant permission to us before we can use their images or video. If they have not responded it does not mean that we can claim it as fair use. As much as I would like to have that clip in the article it should be removed for the time being. It is still unlikely that a media outlet would allow that GIF to be used freely because ewverytime that clip is aired on television by ESPN or any other station the owner of that clip makes money.Rgoss25 (talk) 21:31, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

Translation issue?

In the second paragraph, it states that as a child, Ovechkin "threw all his toys." Where is this quote coming from? If it's from his Russophone parents, we're dealing with an idiomatic word (бросил все свои игрушки) that translates better as "dropped" than "threw." In a sense, what I think they're trying to say is that he abandoned playing with toys in favor of watching hockey games on TV. --IvanP/(болтай) 22:21, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm going to seriously clean up the links in a few days, there are way too many. Per WP:EL ccwaters 15:02, 26 March 2006 (UTC)


I edited the non essential links, and if you want, you can go through the others and edit those. Sod Aries 19:16, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Alexander Ovechkin's stats

It seemed to me that someone either

a) Added fake stats to the stat section b) It hasn't been updated in awhile. It said he played 69 games, but only had 12 goals and 8 assists. I edited it to reflect the 72 game, 48 goal, 47 assists, and 48 Penalty minutes. Please don't change this as it is just... idiotic.Sod Aries 19:08, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Wow.. Alex's Parents?

"Alexander's parents own a gay/lesbian night club to which he frequently attends."

That statement reeks. It may be a fact, but the comment towards 'frequenting' a gay/lesbian bar could be toned a bit. I will edit it to what it should say.Sod Aries 19:09, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Post Sript- I edited it again to reflect a more politically correct definition. It is *still* a little blatant, but it will have to do until someone sees to it.

It was most likely vandalism since it wasn't sourced and Google doesn't have any information about it. On April 5, another editor removed that comment for that reason. --Idont Havaname (Talk) 02:15, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Nickname

Alexander the Great, Alexander the Eight, A.O. OV-1 and 8 Train? 5 nicknames? As far as I know CCM had a competition for Ovechkin's official nickname, the winning contribution was "Alexander the GR8". Even though I hate that nickname it should be in the infobox, and IMO the Alexander the Great should be there too. But there is no use for the other 4 nicknames, where one is a abbreviation and the other is his initials. I know many people just write AO or ovy but I still wouldn't call them nicknames. --Krm500 12:24, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

Seriously, it's far more nicknames now, and neither one of them is the one used by media outlets like ESPN: Alexander the GR8. This section needs to be policed better, and all those nicknames that are not frequently cited by the media should be removed. Forseti11 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 07:24, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

The goal animated GIF

First off, let me say I'm a big fan of Ovechkin. I think he is the most exciting player in hockey right now, and I can't wait to see all the great things he will do in the next 20 years. But, I have a few questions and comments about the animated GIF image of his goal against Phoenix:

  • Why is it titled "The Goal"? There's no mention of it being called this in the article. If it has been called "The Goal," we need a reference in the text.
  • There's no doubt this is a great goal, but why is it on Wikipedia? Most, if not everyone, who is a hockey fan has already seen it. This animated GIF makes this page look more like a fan-page than an encyclopedia.
  • I don't understand the fair-use rationale for this image. On its page, the claim is made that "This is a historic event." I would consider an assassination of a president, war being declared, a record-breaking sports performance, an enourmous charitable donation, and many other events "historic," but not this.
  • This image is 1.1 megabytes in size. Worldwide, many use Wikipedia with a low-speed connection. I think this image is too large, especially because its importance is questionable.

--Muéro 17:11, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

Well here i saw it for the first time and that was for sure the greatest thing ive ever seen in hockey. I think its really important and awesome thing to have in an encyclopedia. It shouldnt be removed from this page in my opinion. Shur4 18:43, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

Hockey fans and media regularly refer to this goal as "The Goal." In the article (next to the GIF), it is described in detail. I added a reference to the term "The Goal." I think that does the trick, and I do think the GIF should stay. -- mmiller20910

lol Jaskaramdeep 22:32, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

I specifically came to this page looking for that gif or a related video of exactly that. I can't imagine the picture not being in an article on him. Nwarner79 04:44, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

I personally think it was the luckiest goal in NHL history.  burgz  (Talk)  09:02, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

For the last time, Wikipedia NOT a place for personal opinions. --Krm500 12:23, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

—There seems to be a lot of personal opinions on talk pages...

The .gif should be kept. This is exactly what a multimedia encyclopedia is for. In fact, it was even cited in a NYT article [1]--Yeti4979 (talk) 21:09, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

we need to keep the gif. its significance will become plain as time passes. a notable episode in the career of an nhl hall-of-famer.Toyokuni3 (talk) 05:17, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Just because it is significant, doesn't mean it is appropriate for use under the guidelines of Wikipedia. I think that file has to be removed. A video clip is definitely not fair use. Leafschik1967 (talk) 19:26, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
RE:For the last time, Wikipedia NOT a place for personal opinions. Well that's your opinion, so you just violated your own statement. — ᚹᚩᛞᛖᚾᚻᛖᛚᛗ (talk) 16:57, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
That's not opinion, that's policy/fact, so nice try Forseti11 (talk) 17:13, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

alexander-ovechkin.info

Capitals web page has interesting information on the historical significance of Ovie's 2007-08 record-breaking season. Here's the link:

http://capitals.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=359439

and the text: Ovechkin is the first Capitals player to win the Art Ross Trophy, presented annually to the league’s leading scorer. The 22-year-old native of Moscow is also the first Russian-born player to win the Art Ross. Ovechkin finished the season with 112 points (65 goals, 47 assists) while playing all 82 games, leading the Capitals to their first playoff appearance since 2003.

Ovechkin’s 65 goals led the NHL by 13 goals, making him the first Capital to win the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy since the award was established in 1999. Ovechkin is the second Capital to lead the league in goals, joining Peter Bondra (1994-95 and shared the lead in 1997-98). Ovechkin set the single-season record for goals by a left wing and became the first player since 1996 to score more than 60 goals in a season. He is just the 12th player in history to score at least 65 goals. Ovechkin scored 13 more goals than runner-up Ilya Kovalchuk of the Atlanta Thrashers; only Pavel Bure (14 goals in 1999-00) has led the league by that many goals in the past 15 years.

Ovechkin becomes just the sixth player in the last 35 seasons to lead the league in both points and goals, the first since Jarome Iginla in 2001-02. Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Phil Esposito, Guy Lafleur and Iginla combined to lead the league in both points and goals 11 times in the last 35 seasons; nine of those 11 years that player also won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.251.87.214 (talk) 18:58, 16 April 2008 (UTC)


Text on the main page - Who is right? Copyvio?

One of the greatest?

"He is considered to be one of the greatest professional hockey players of all time."

Please, that's a little premature. Also, I don't think a lot of people would share that view quite yet. He is on his way for sure, but he isn't in that league right now.

I can put it in perspective for you. 2005-06 3rd in points behind Thornton and Jagr. 2007-08 Led the NHL in Goals with 65, Pts with 112. Scored 52, 46 and 65 goals in first 3 seasons. He is on pace to reach 65 goals again this season. Points scored 106, 92, 112 in his last 3 seasons. On pace for 108 points this season. He has set multiple records and scored the most goals in one season by a left wing. Even if he had a career ending injury he would be in the hall of fame. If you want to compare him to another athlete take a look at NFL running back Gale Sayers short injury plagued career. He is in the NFL hall of fame and did not reach milestones like Walter Payton or Emmitt Smith but he is still considered on of the greatest running backs of all time. I think Crosby and Malkin will achieve hall of fame status as well even though it is premature I base this on their league leading stats.Rgoss25 (talk) 21:55, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

If Ovechkin suffered a career ending injury today, he most certainly would not make the hall of fame. Longevity is one of the criteria writers like to look at. At any rate, any statement around "one of the greatest" would be blatantly WP:POV and belongs on a message board, not Wikipedia. Resolute 22:00, 12 January 2009 (UTC)
I'd re-write. ""He is considered to be one of the greatest professional hockey players in the game today." Jc121383 (talk) 04:44, 13 January 2009 (UTC)
That would be using weasel words which is to be avoided. -Djsasso (talk) 19:36, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

Pronunciation?

Maybe we could throw in a pronunciation of his last name since they may be some people out there who unsure (myself included).

Finished. T Rex | talk 07:35, 5 August 2007 (UTC)
You speak Russian with a thick American accent. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.198.202.5 (talk) 17:57, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
Well considering he does live in the US and plays hockey for a US team it makes sense that this is how most Americans pronounce his name. T Rex | talk 19:00, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
Sure but what's the point then ? Some readers might be misled into thinking that's the Russian pronunciation. Compare with Teemu Selänne, Martin Brodeur, Cristobal Huet, Jiří Šlégr, Antero Niittymäki, Václav Varaďa, Milan Michálek and others : the IPA pronunciation is given in the person's native tongue, not in its americanized form. 86.198.202.5 19:49, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
So then add one for Russian. T Rex | talk 20:50, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Ovechkin and Rammstein

There has been an unsourced statement in the Trivia section for a while now saying that Alex listens to Rammstein before games. Unless his musical tastes have changed, he prefers lighter music than Rammstein, per this interview. WashingtonCaps.com says that he likes to listen to techno and hip-hop, and various articles I've read on news sites confirm that. --Idont Havaname (Talk) 21:25, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Article about Ovechkin

Here's a new article about Ovechkin with some good quotations by him and about him. I'm not sure what to use from it, so I'm putting the link here so other editors can use it. --Muéro(talk/c) 19:27, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Here are a few more:


Enjoy.-Wafulz (talk) 05:04, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Sixth paragraph.

"Because he has studied at the Military Institute for Border Guards, he apparently does not have to serve in the military in Russia. Military duty is supposed to be "compulsory" in Russia, but it is so in name only and is enforced selectively rather than uniformly; for instance, young Russian star Ilya Kovalchuk has never served in the military, while Ukrainian -born Nikolai Zherdev was forced to go to arbitration court in Switzerland because Russian authorities claimed he had to serve in the military. Apparently Ovechkin will not have to face these circumstances."


*Seems a little angry to me. - Pseudolife (talk) 03:52, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

what's the fuss? in case you aren't old enough to remember the draft, or aren't from the u.s., the sons of the wealthy and influential usually didn't have to serve, or served in the natonal guard.i don't remember meeting many big time athletes in nam either.es ist immer so.Toyokuni3 (talk) 15:35, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

I've removed most of the paragraph because this isn't the place to discuss that issue.-Wafulz (talk) 22:55, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

keep up

i believe Ovie is the first Russian-born player to win the scoring title/Art Ross trophy. This should be added, no? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.251.87.214 (talk) 18:52, 16 April 2008 (UTC)


someone keep up w/ his goals, its now at 64 as of 4/3/08! 71.246.81.124 (talk) 23:56, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Absolutely not, statistic may not be updated during the season. --Krm500 (talk) 00:07, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

He doesn't hold the team record for most assists by a Washington rookie anymore. Niklas Backstrom broke that record this season, so that particular stat should be edited out. /Mattias —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.243.191.215 (talk) 21:45, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

All-Star Game False Information

Just to get a heads up since I'm still knew to this whole editing thing but not knew to Wikipedia but under Alex Ovechkin's article where it shows his All-Star game stats, the All-Star game in Dallas states that he had 0 goals, 0 assists, and 0 points. He actualy had scored 1 goal, 0 assists, and 1 point in that very game. I have proof of this 1) from nhl.com -----> http://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20062007/GS040055.HTM 2) from Wikipedia's own article on the 2007 NHL All-Star Game -----> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_NHL_All-Star_Game and 3) from personal experience because I did watch that game and was of course cheering on my favorite athlete from my favorite hockey team! :)

Thanks for pointing that out. It seems that I wasn't paying much attention when reading over the all-star stats when I added the table. All fixed up now. Kaiser matias (talk) 22:02, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

The goal is listed now, but shouldn't he has a point also ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.167.56.255 (talk) 16:58, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

Done --Muéro(talk/c) 21:00, 3 June 2008 (UTC)

"Major awards"

The Hart, Richard, Art Ross, and Pearson awards have never been collectively known as "the four major awards." The source link also only said "Ovechkin is the first player to win the Hart, Pearson, Richard and Ross in the same year." I have removed the erroneous statement. --Muéro(talk/c) 18:42, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

While they are not the Four Major Awards, they are four of the major awards. If you wanted a source that said, "four major awards," you could. [2] However, I agree it can be misleading, so I changed the wording instead of removing it all together. Skyezx (talk) 20:51, 14 June 2008 (UTC)
Not sure where you are from but they are definately known as the four major awards in Canada. -Djsasso (talk) 00:03, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

I added a note that the Richard Trophy was established in 1998-99. If it was established earlier, Lemieux and Gretzky would have received all four awards in one year. If someone wants to delete it, I have no problem with that, but I thought it was relevant.

Early Life

There's been some recent, erm ... complaints about the sources in this section. Can anyone source these facts and/or write a new early life biography, and should we just mass-delete this section before that is done? Forseti11 (talk) 02:34, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Life off the Ice?

It appears that Ovechkin is also a very colourful person off the ice. The thing about him launching his own line of clothing is already in the article, and also this article http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3604260 talks a lot about what he does off the ice. I want to cite a few of those things, but would first like to petition for a new section added into the biography entitled "Life off the Ice" or "Off the Ice" or some other name that maybe someone finds more suitable. 16:31, 25 September 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Forseti11 (talk • contribs) OVECHKIN IS THE BEST —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.73.72.108 (talk) 19:07, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

why are there brackets around the word ticked in the comment about don cherry? is it to indicate that ovechkin used a profanity, or some other word for angry? (pissed, for example) if so, the pair of square brackets doesn't necessarily convey this idea.moreover, ticked isn't the right word to use. you don't replace one colloquialism with another when trying to explain the first. if angry is what you're trying to say, say angry. if he actually said 'ticked', then i don't understand the brackets at all.Toyokuni3 (talk) 16:20, 25 February 2010 (UTC)
The brackets are there because the cited source has the brackets there, meaning the source probably censored it in the first place. If there is a source that can be lined to that directly quotes the original word, we should use that, otherwise, it has to stay there Forseti11 (talk) 17:53, 25 February 2010 (UTC)
my point here is that it is confusing to any reader. but i know how to fix it and will.Toyokuni3 (talk) 18:24, 25 February 2010 (UTC)
Most intelligent users are aware of what square brackets in direct quotes mean. I will keep your (sic), though, but make it less cluttered. Forseti11 (talk) 19:08, 25 February 2010 (UTC)

Proposal to Delete

His career has spanned three and a half years now, and his little non-encyclopaedia-like blurbs keep growing. I propose rearranging some of them and deleting some altogether. I have arranged them in the order that they appear in the article. If a proposed change receives no objection, I will go ahead and change it.

Delete: “Ovechkin was named the NHL Rookie of the Month for December 2005.[4]” Reason: this does not add any more information than the bullet in the list of awards. And is not a major acheivment unlike his simultaneous Offensive Player and Rookie of the Month titles.

Delete: “On December 29, 2007, Ovechkin notched his third hat trick against Ottawa Senators netminder, Martin Gerber. Ovechkin tallied 5 points that night: 4 goals and 1 assist to lead the Capitals to a 8-6 victory. On January 31, 2008, he had another 5-point performance (4 goals, 1 assist), including the game-winning goal, in a 5-4 overtime victory against the Montreal Canadiens.” Reason: While an impressive achievement, there is nothing particularly noteworthy about it, as it was not record breaking, and receiving little media attention.

Move to “Off the ice”: “On January 24,2009, Ovechkin won the Breakaway Competiition at the NHL All Star Game for the 2nd consecutive year in Montreal after emerging in the final few seconds wearing a hat bestowed with a Canadian flag and white sunglasses.[12] On January 25, 2009, Ovechkin scored 1 goal and notched 2 assists, as well as scoring the game-winning shootout goal in the 2009 NHL All-Star Game as the Eastern Conference won 12-11.[13]” Reason: Not really his “playing career” in “Washington”. Since the new section is meant to highlight his personality and non-playing accomplishments/exploits, it would make sense to move this section here, add a blurb on his first win, and tie in his “feud” with Malkin. Forseti11 (talk) 22:52, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

I don't know anything about it, but the way to Feud with Malkin is portrayed doesn't seem very encyclopedic. They had a tiff of some kind, was it anything more then speculation? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.183.37.200 (talk) 07:06, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

Alex's Official Website

Can we please add this into the player info box at the top. Thank you.

http://www.AlexOvechkin8.com—Preceding unsigned comment added by Druconn (talk • contribs)

Done. Templates have very specific syntax or additions don't display. I've corrected this for you. Resolute 23:31, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Misleading sentence

Last sentence in second paragraph says that he is the only player to win all four awards. This is technically true but suggests that he is the only player to win the three trophies and the scoring title which is untrue (see Lemieux, Gretz, Esposito, Lafleur). Please fix.--209.171.47.7 (talk) 20:09, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

lock it down for the playoffs?

loads of vandalism at the moment. lock the article down or put some restrictions on IP users for the remainder of washingtons run?--Lvivske (talk) 18:34, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

I had no idea, Sergei Gonchar had so many fans. Wowsers, the vandalism. GoodDay (talk) 18:41, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
The vandalism is insane. Look at the history page. One hopes that it stops tonight, win or lose. 1995hoo (talk) 18:44, 13 May 2009 (UTC)
I tend to agree. I've semi-protected the article for a week, and will re-evaluate after that. Resolute 00:03, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

Page move to "Alex Ovechkin"

Don't want to stir the pot here, but NHL.com and his official website refer to him as "Alex" rather than "Alexander". I understand the latter is his birth name, but should we not go by popular/official usage? --Львівске (talk) 01:43, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Alexander seems to be the common usage, in my subjective opinion. Resolute 02:17, 6 July 2009 (UTC)
Any news report or on highlights at night they always say Alexander, so I would say Alexander is the common usage. -Djsasso (talk) 15:45, 8 July 2009 (UTC)
Alexander: http://nhlpa.com/WebStats/PlayerBiography.asp?ID=25987 ccwaters (talk) 15:59, 8 July 2009 (UTC)
That's not necessarily true; that's just a matter of media that don't really pay attention to hockey. That fact is that Ovechkin was known as Alex (NOT Alexander) before he even came to North America. After one season in the NHL, he said in an interview that he does not want to be referred to as Alexander. Hence why league pages, his website, and most published articles say Alex. (Saint0wen (talk) 06:24, 9 October 2009 (UTC))
Can you offer a citation for the proposition that he has said that he does not want to be called Alexander? If you can, then I would firmly agree with the proposal to move the page. Certainly at Caps games the PA man Wes never refers to him as "Alexander." I don't think there's any reason why the NHLPA's document must control if the player himself prefers something different. 1995hoo (talk) 20:57, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

Awards

OK, I'm trying to change "First player to win the Art Ross Trophy, Maurice Richard Trophy, Lester B. Pearson Award and Hart Memorial Trophy as well as win all four in a single season"

to

"First player to win the Art Ross Trophy, Maurice Richard Trophy, Lester B. Pearson Award and Hart Memorial Trophy in a single season"

because he clearly is not the first to win any award, but is the first to win all 4 in a season and someone keeps reverting it back to the awkwardly worded sentence above. Please leave it the way I am changing it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.251.248.16 (talk) 04:10, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

Except he is the first player to win all four of these awards, and not just in a single season. If you can come up with wording that reflects this, please feel free to change it, then. Otherwise, leave it alone, since it took about a year worth back and forth reverting to come up with the current wording, which seemed to have worked the best up until now. Like I said, I will stop reverting your changes once your edits stop making the sentence lose its proper meaning. Thank you. Forseti11 (talk) 13:48, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps something like this? "Ovechkin is the first player to win the Art Ross Trophy, Maurice Richard Trophy, Lester B. Pearson Award, and Hart Memorial Trophy in a single season. More significantly, he is the first player to win all four of these awards during his career." I think the second part of this is the more notable, but I found it very hard to come up with a wording that put this fact first while making it clear what was being said. I understand what the anonymous user is trying to say: The sentence quoted above might be seen as ambiguous in that someone uneducated about the topic might read it as saying that Ovechkin was the first player to win any of these awards. Obviously, anyone who knows anything about the NHL knows that's bollocks, but apparently some people don't understand that. But the anonymous user is flat-out WRONG in his edit because he's missing the more important point. He needs to stop changing it until a consensus wording can be reached. 1995hoo (talk) 14:38, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

"Ovechkin is the first player to win the Art Ross Trophy, Maurice Richard Trophy, Lester B. Pearson Award, and Hart Memorial Trophy in a single season. More significantly, he is the first player to win all four of these awards during his career." I tried fiddling with this sentence to put the career achievement first, but I can't seem to get anything clearer or better than this. How about we use this instead, then, and perhaps we may come up with something better in the future? Forseti11 (talk) 15:39, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

Vandalism

It has come to my attention that the Ovechkin page has been vandalized; is there a way to reset the page, like Apple's "Time Capsule" program? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chazwald (talk • contribs) 21:36, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

If you go into the article's history tab, you can revert back to any previous version. That said, another user has already reverted, and I've protected the article for a week, owing to the repeated vandalism over the past three days. Resolute 22:17, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

Weight?

Watching the Montreal-Washington on game on HNIC last night, a play-by-play announcer gave Ovechkin's weight as 265, but this article gives it as 233. Would anyone know if he has bulked up since it was 233? Personally, I find 265 pounds to be hard to believe, but I know that he his quite strong. BashBrannigan (talk) 19:00, 29 November 2009 (UTC) 265 seems way excessive. I remember Bertuzzi was 245 in his prime. The most official source, NHL.com, lists him at 233. And he did beef up over the summer, adding about a dozen or so pounds. Not 40 though, that would be insane. Stupid announcing strikes again, perhaps? 21:02, 29 November 2009 (UTC)~ —Preceding unsigned comment added by Forseti11 (talk • contribs)

Nickname update

I thought I should open a discussion again about Ovechkin's nickname as the last discussion was about 2 years old. The name I hear the most is "alexander the great" and second to that would be "OV" or "Ovie". However, google also finds "Alexander the gr8" or "Great 8" (which makes no sense!!) or even "The Russian Tank" and apparently his Olympic team-mates called him "mutant". For that matter this Wikipedia article uses "Alex" almost as a nickname. CCM started a contest to give Ovechkin a nickname, but that seems corporate and phoney. I bring all this up because myself and other editors have edited the nickname here. BashBrannigan (talk) 21:41, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

I don't think we should make this article into a nickname orgasm (it was like that a year ago and the consensus seemed to be to remove the giant list). That said, including some nicknames would be appropriate. Ovie and Alexander the Great (or Gr8, though I think the spelled out version should be the main one) ought to be included. This Great 8 business, I don't know which commentators its coming, but until I see sources that aren't blogs, or some hack small-town reporters, I ain't buying it.Forseti11 (talk) 17:07, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

How about a subsection discussing known nicknames? "Alex" isn't a nickname though, just a short form.--Львівське (talk) 18:08, 24 January 2010 (UTC)
His nicknames seems to be a recurring topic here. Also, if CCM is sponsoring a nickname contest, then a separate section for his nickname might be a good idea. BashBrannigan (talk) 18:36, 26 January 2010 (UTC)
i am not a 'reputable third party source',of course, but i can confirm that the caps' regular tv team of joe beninati and craig laughlin use 'the great 8' frequently. as i said, they are the caps' official broadcast team, not 'hack small-town reporters'. beninati also works games on versus,and, for my money, may be the best play-by-play guy in the game. he and laughlin both have wp articles.Toyokuni3 (talk) 16:00, 26 January 2010 (UTC)
Yes, the Caps broadcasters would qualify as a legitimate source, but how are they using it? Are they using it just as an "inside-joke"? I say this because I understand shortening "Alexander the Great" to "Alex the Gr8", but "The Great 8" seems nonsensical. BashBrannigan (talk) 17:31, 26 January 2010 (UTC)
can't say that i've ever perceived the reference as tongue in cheek. seems more like an ordinary nickname. i'll try to take more note the next broadcast game. tonight, unfortunately, they're not on. some bunch of pituitary giants called the wizards, or some such. i do recall hearing something about how they like to play with guns. whatever. Toyokuni3 (talk) 18:18, 26 January 2010 (UTC)
Seeing as his number is 8, 'The Great Eight' is hardly a nonsensical nickname...--Львівське (talk) 03:15, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
That's so obvious I'm embarrassed I missed it.BashBrannigan (talk) 17:00, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Lead picture

A user (who I assume is from Ukraine given his username) recently changed the lead picture on this article from a picture of Ovechkin with the Capitals to a picture of him with the Russian national team. I'm not really sure this is appropriate given that Ovechkin is far more commonly identified with the Capitals than he is with the Russian team, at least in the English-speaking world (bearing in mind that this is the English-language Wikipedia). I will concede that as pictures go I think the new one looks a lot better than the old one, but I think in terms of article subject and content a Capitals-related picture would be more appropriate here. I haven't changed it back because I thought it was more appropriate to raise the issue on the talk page to seek a consensus on the matter first, as I assume the other user intended his change to be in good faith. I haven't tried to put up a new picture because I don't know how to upload pictures to Wikipedia. (I looked through pictures I've taken at games and at season-ticket holder events over the past few years and found a few possible candidates.) Anyway, does anyone else have any thoughts? I think the new picture might go well in the "International Play" section, though. 1995hoo (talk) 03:11, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

A slew of great pics was brought to the attention of the WP talk page, and I threw it up since it was just simply a terrific, pro quality picture of him. I don't see what my Ukrainity has to do with it, lol. As far as intl. play section goes...there's a few more good ones that can be uploaded for there as well, already put one in the medal table.--Львівське (talk) 03:13, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
The reason I thought it might be significant for these purposes that you might be (or I guess "are") from Ukraine is simply that I could understand why someone from that part of the world would view Ovechkin primarily as a player for the Russian national team rather than as a player for the Washington Capitals. Sorry, I should have been clearer in why I said that. I didn't mean it to come across as an attack and I apologize if it did. 1995hoo (talk) 03:15, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
My vote would be that the lead picture should be a picture with the Capitals. Even though he has a history with the RSL he's now played more games in the NHL and currently plays in the NHL. It's less relevant that the current lead picture is of better quality. While were at it, I've never been fond of the picture titles "Ovenchkin 2008" where he's kneeling on the ice. BashBrannigan (talk) 03:46, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
I could understand if this was an RSL era picture, but he's pretty notable as a Russian, and the picture doesnt really sway from the realm of his core identity. I mean, he's already said he'll leave the NHL to play for Russia come Sochi, the team's important to him as a player.--Львівське (talk) 04:24, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
Here's a somewhat different one I took last season: [3]. You don't often see Ovechkin wearing that style of Capitals sweater and you won't see him wear #11 again. But I can't quite crop out that other player's arse and that sort of cuts against it a bit, unless maybe I crop it to waist-up. (I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of the look of that drawstring hanging down in front. Looks a bit too phallic for my taste.) It was taken in DC during warmups on 28 December 2008 prior to the game against Toronto on the night Mike Gartner's number was retired. 1995hoo (talk) 04:15, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

A neutral image would be preferred, like a profile headshot but those are hard to come by. So then you go with best quality photograph available, which I believe the current one is. —Krm500 (Communicate!) 03:56, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

I threw up a more profile style picture from the same set. Added another to the INTL section. By all means, adjust at will...--Львівське (talk) 04:21, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
I've got a close-up that I just cropped to remove the Capitals logos. He's wearing a Washington Nationals batting practice hat (the old dark blue style with the interlocking "DC" alternate logo), however, so it would still be associated with Washington. The picture is from 27 September 2006. Ovechkin threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Nationals' game against the Phillies at RFK. Here the image as cropped: [4]. As noted before, I do not know how to upload pictures to Wikipedia, so if anyone wants to use this, please give me directions. 1995hoo (talk) 04:23, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
Actually, you know what, let me dig a little more. I've got a whole bunch of close-ups from the key to the city ceremony in 2008, but I need to see what I can do with cropping out a lot of the extraneous stuff around him, and some old geezer kept getting in the way when I was taking pictures. I'll follow up. 1995hoo (talk) 04:26, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
OK, here are two with no logos from anyone. I didn't pick one of the ones where he was holding the key to the city because those are DC-centered. The only thing about using a photo with no sports association is that this article is about someone who is known first and foremost for being an athlete, so I do think there is some validity to using some sort of athletic photo. But anyway, see what you think of these. I'm sort of partial to the second one because that gap-toothed grin is sort of an Ovechkin personality thing. He's said that his dentist hates it but that's it's better with "the ladies." Here are two: [5] [6] In the first picture Mayor Fenty was addressing the crowd (out of the picture to the right). In the second picture, Ovechkin was addressing the crowd and he had just said, "So I'm the president today in the city. So everybody have fun, and no speed limit today." 1995hoo (talk) 04:38, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
Those two last images you posted would be perfect for the infobox IMO. The best way to upload images is to get an account on Commons and upload it there, then all wikimedia projects can use your images. It's really easy, after you have registered your account you click the upload file link and follow the instructions. Or, if you have an Flickr account you can upload it there, with a compatible license (CC-BY-SA recommend), and then I can upload it to commons if you prefer. —Krm500 (Communicate!) 05:05, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
Thanks, I will look into that in the morning. (Or should that be "after the sun comes up"?) It's 1:10 AM and I'm yawning, so I'll see what I can do after getting some sleep! 1995hoo (talk) 05:11, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
"Krm500," thanks again for the help. As you can see, I've uploaded the "toothless" image for the reasons stated before. The caption I used is rather generic and lame, but I decided not to say anything in the caption about when and where the picture was taken for the reasons stated by several people in this discussion regarding neutrality so as to avoid tying the picture too closely to DC. The average viewer won't know or care where it was taken and won't be able to tell, but clicking on the image makes it easy to find out. If anyone has an idea for a better caption, please go ahead and change it. Also, in connection with this I've moved the prior image in the lead infobox, of Ovechkin wearing the red sweater, to the "Medal record" infobox for three reasons. First, it's clearly identifiable as a Russian uniform. Second, there is another picture immediately to the left in which he's wearing the white sweater, so I think having the red here sets it off better. Third, I just think it's a better picture than the one in the white sweater. 1995hoo (talk) 14:08, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

FWIW, three pictures from one week of Olympic competition vs. two representing five years of NHL play is a tad unbalanced. Resolute 04:37, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

Well there's at least one more caps pic im gonna upload, IMO, who cares what jersey it is? the articles about ovechkin the hockey player, not ovechkin the capitals player.--Львівське (talk) 06:14, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
And MOS violating since they are squeezing the text between two images! ;) —Krm500 (Communicate!) 05:05, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
If anyone cares, I feel that the lead image for athletes should try and show them doing something sports related. As such, I think either using the "old" image (the one that had been up there until this flurry of changes), or even better, the one currently used in the medal table. The medal table one would probably be even better than him with the Capitals, as it is focused on his face. As for the key of the city one, that would probably fit better under the off the ice section, as that award is described in that spot. Kaiser matias (talk) 22:35, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
I think you've made a good point that the lead picture should show him playing hockey. I'm still inclined to think it show him with the Capitals as that is his current team, however, it should definitely be of him playing hockey. BashBrannigan (talk) 22:49, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
We had this discussion regarding Gretzky too, and the consensus was not to use the featured picture of him playing hockey, but instead a neutral image of him off the ice. —Krm500 (Communicate!) 23:36, 19 March 2010 (UTC)
...and I hate the Gretzky lead image big-time. I really do think it should be a hockey picture for hockey player infoboxes.--Львівське (talk) 00:01, 20 March 2010 (UTC)
I agree. And the Gretzky discussion isn't exactly comparable as Gretzky played with several NHL teams. This is more a debate whether it's appropriate to lead with Ovechkin in an NHL or a Russian uniform. BashBrannigan (talk) 00:13, 20 March 2010 (UTC)
Well, I agree also, was just pointing out what the consensus from previous discussions had been. Then best quality photograph available, regardless of which uniform he's sporting. —Krm500 (Communicate!) 02:54, 20 March 2010 (UTC)
rofl... I think either of the two previous photos are far better than what is there now. Silly nationalism... Resolute 22:22, 20 March 2010 (UTC)
Agreed.--Львівське (talk) 03:49, 21 March 2010 (UTC)
I moved some pictures around to what I think looks better and hopefully satisfy all concerned. I think this is the best I can do. BashBrannigan (talk) 05:34, 23 March 2010 (UTC)
aaaand we've come full circle, lol. IMO my only gripe with this layout is that he is facing away from the article text.--Львівське (talk) 06:36, 23 March 2010 (UTC)
  • 2008
    2008
  • 2009
    2009
  • 2010
    2010
  • 2010
    2010

Figured it'd be good for reference...--Львівське (talk) 21:32, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

Of the pictures above, my preference would be either 2009 Capitals sweater, or 2010 Russian2.pgn. You can't see the logo on the Russian1.pgn photo so it would might be confusing what team he was wish. I'm not a fan of the 2008 photo for the lead. BashBrannigan (talk) 00:18, 20 March 2010 (UTC)

Vandalism: what did this editor do?

I just reverted vandalism by editor 24.147.66.246, which is a shared IP. However, I'm confused by WHAT this person did. It appears that the entire article was blanked, however there was nothing that I could see in what they did that would cause it. This is more than curiosity, because I'm unsure what type of warning to put on the user page. Does anyone understand what technically was done here? BashBrannigan (talk) 19:04, 24 March 2010 (UTC)

The editor inserted headline text into an infobox, which somehow made the whole page appear blank. I will try this on my sandbox to see what exactly happens. Comments from anyone else?NotAnonymous0 (talk) 19:24, 24 March 2010 (UTC)
...scroll down--Львівське (talk) 19:59, 24 March 2010 (UTC)
By inserting gibberish headline text into a numeric field in the infobox (specifically, the field for Ovechkin's weight) the user caused the page to become garbled due to the display of an error message. That is, because the infobox expects numeric characters, and uses those to convert pounds into kilograms and stone, the alphabetic characters caused the software to go berserk. It seems like there's been a lot of vandalism to this article lately and I expect it may just get worse if the Capitals win tonight....speaking of which, it's about time to head downtown for the game. 1995hoo (talk) 20:45, 24 March 2010 (UTC)
Looks like some kids want to play today based on the history. Semi'd for a short time. Resolute 21:05, 24 March 2010 (UTC)

Is it time to lock this down for the playoffs again?

Looking at this article's history, it seems like the vandalism has been near-constant recently while the amount of legitimate editing has more or less stalled out pending the end of the current season and the playoffs. No doubt last night's game will have further motivated some of our neighbors to the northwest to engage in juvenile shenanigans here. Last year this article was locked down midway through the second round. Is it time to take this step on a preemptive basis again until after the playoffs are over this year? 1995hoo (talk) 16:24, 7 April 2010 (UTC)

agreed--Львівське (talk) 16:28, 7 April 2010 (UTC)
Since this is indeed ridiculous, I just protected it against new and unregistered users for the next two months. Should get the article through most of the playoffs at least. Kaiser matias (talk) 23:13, 8 April 2010 (UTC)

Edit request from 67.68.102.120, 21 April 2010

{{editsemiprotected}}

NHL trophy missing in his stats page:

Kharlamov Trophy

  1. 2006 Alexander Ovechkin
  2. 2007 Alexander Ovechkin
  3. 2008 Alexander Ovechkin
  4. 2009 Alexander Ovechkin
  5. 2010 Alexander Ovechkin

67.68.102.120 (talk) 14:20, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

This award was already noted in his awards section, but I have updated to include his 2010 win. Thanks, Resolute 16:57, 21 April 2010 (UTC)

International

I think it is misleading to omit reference to the fact that Ovechkin played at the 2010 Olympics and that Russia lost in the quarterfinals to Canada 7-3. You seem to include all of his successes, but not his failures. If wikipedia wants to be a reliable source, this page should not be so biased. If I were someone who did not know anything about hockey, and wanted to learn about Ovechkin, this page would not provide all of the relevant facts. There could also be mention of the fact that Ovechkin and Russia lost in the 2010 World Hockey Championships. Beauty18 (talk) 16:41, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

NHL All-Star Games

The NHL All-Star Games has the years wrong. 2008 is repeated, but it should be 2007-2009. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Brunorberto (talk • contribs) 02:05, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing that out. It's all fixed now. Kaiser matias (talk) 04:59, 5 June 2010 (UTC)
Archive 1
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