Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin reportedly was not made available to the media on Thursday morning, hours after his native Russia sent troops into Ukraine.
Ovechkin is a longtime supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He expressed his support of Putin in an Instagram post in 2017, and his Instagram account features a picture of himself and the Russian president as his profile picture.
Per the Washington Post, the Capitals did not make Ovechkin available to offer his thoughts on the world events on Thursday ahead of their game against the New York Rangers.
"Expecting Alex Ovechkin to be available to media in the coming days. He was requested this AM, but Caps want to keep the focus on tonight's game vs NYR," beat writer Samantha Pell wrote.
"Ovechkin wants further time before speaking on Russia's attack on Ukraine.
"Ovechkin's wife, kids, mom + dad are in Russia."
The world's events aren't just affecting the NHL.
Next week's tennis tournament in Moscow will not take place as scheduled "due to concerns over player safety and uncertainty related to international travel following the recent escalation of events between Russia and Ukraine," the ATP Challenger Tour wrote on Twitter.
Also, Michael Stockton -- the son of basketball Hall of Fame member John Stockton — left his team of Budivelnyk Kyiv in Ukraine's SuperLeague last week to return home to Spokane, Washington, agent Mike Main told USA Today.
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