Bruce Dowbiggin
Are We Ready For A Russian To Become NHL’s Top Goal Scorer?

Sign up today for Not The Public Broadcaster newsletters. Hot takes and cool slants on sports and current affairs. Have the latest columns delivered to your mail box. Tell your friends to join, too. Always provocative, always independent.
With the grinding war in Ukraine showing no signs of ceasing and Biden-led sanctions doing nothing tangible to deter Vladimir Putin, Russia’s image in the West has rarely been this low. So now might be a good time to ask if the NHL is prepared for a Russian to become the greatest goal scorer in league history.
As the league prepares for its annual draft on Thursday/ Friday, the top pick in the 2004 Draft is showing every sign that he will pass the game’s greatest Canadians in goal scoring. Going into 2022-23, the 36-year-old Capitals star is just 21 goals behind the immortal Gordie Howe in second place and 114 back of Wayne Gretzky, the Prometheus of NHL scoring.
-
Wayne Gretzky. 894
2. Gordie Howe 801
3. Alex Ovechkin 780
Given good health Ovechkin will surpass Howe next season and probably leave Gretzky in his wake in four seasons. Even in a time of peace it will be interesting to see the public reaction in Canada and the U.S. to Ovechkin’s passing No. 99. While the No.1 pick in 2005, Sidney Crosby, has had a squeaky clean image, The Great Eight has been a little salty for some folks.
He plays a game Howe would love, dispensing devastating hits as well as brilliant goals. His gap-toothed sneer has not always endeared him to many. Nor has his proximity to Putin himself. In November 2017, Ovechkin started a movement called PutinTeam in support of Putin during the 2018 Russian presidential election .
In recent times he’s sought to have a foot in both camps. “I don’t know what’s happening out there. I know it’s a hard situation, but it is what it is. You know, I play here, and this is my second home. I don’t want to fight between two countries, because it’s going to be a mess.”
Too late on that front, Alex. Putin’s naked aggression and Biden’s desire to unseat him (he’s endorsed assassination) have put the West on the brink of a war with nuclear potential. Few can say where the conflict is headed, except that it’s highly unlikely the West will be surrendering its sons to the battlefield when NATO runs out of Ukrainians willing to die.
One thing is certain. As we point out in our book Inexact Science: the 6 Most Compelling Drafts in NHL History, Ovechkin put an end to the bias against Russians at the top of the NHL draft. While there had been Russian Hall of Fame selections in the middle to lower rounds of the draft (Sergei Fedorov, Pavel Bure, Sergei Zubov) Ovechkin’s No. 1 overall was considered a risk at the time. He changed the equation.
“It began in 2004, when the Capitals selected Russian phenom Alex Ovechkin, maybe the greatest pure goal scorer the NHL has seen. A number one pick who has lived up to the billing of “generational player,” Ovechkin maybe would have been even more widely hailed as that “Next One” had he developed under the intense hockey media spotlight of Canada, or North America in general.
Never before had an international player earned the kind of accolades Ovechkin received leading up to his draft year. After all, he was only the second Russian ever to go that high on draft day. But the fact he wasn’t a Canadian kid may have tempered the headlines around “Ovie” and made some fans skeptical about his supposed wizardry.
He wasn’t helped by how easily a stacked Team Canada had handled him and his Russians in the World Juniors of 2004 and 2005. In retrospect, “The Great 8” was actually undersold as a generational legend. But all of this made his majestic rookie season as a 20-year-old in 2005–06 more of a revelation than it would have been otherwise.
CAA agent J.P. Barry says that some resistance remains. “Even with Russian players, we’ve seen a hesitance in the past. A few teams have said to me, “Sorry, we just don’t draft Russians. End of story.” I know of several teams that did make that an internal memo. Some even said, “We can’t take a Euro in the first three rounds!” I don’t think there’s any team that could say any of that anymore, though. Way back when, however, there were these unwritten internal policies that were just silly.
There was definitely a period there where teams didn’t want to touch Russians, because they didn’t feel that they could get them to come over. Sometimes they were teams impacted by something negative that happened in the past and let it change their course of action.”
If Ovechkin didn’t entirely smash the Russian stereotype then his countryman Evgeni Malkin, selected right behind Ovechkin in the 2004 draft, sealed the deal. (Ironically the two were rivals for a long time, only reconciling in recent years). Lifetime, Malkin has 444 goals and 702 assists in an injury-riddled career.
To the NHL’s credit, it hasn’t banned or sanctioned its Russian stars as some have done. The country’s teams are banned from international soccer and hockey tournaments and the Paralympics. Russian tennis players Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev (the top-2 ranked Russian male players) were barred from participating at Wimbledon. Many Russian artists have seen their concerts cancelled.
For now Ovechkin is walking a tight rope. He’s called for peace without mentioning Russia or Ukraine directly. In May 2022, he reiterated his support for Putin, as well as retaining the Russian president on his Instagram profile photo. Much depends on the progress of the war, and how much Canada and the U.S. are drawn into the combat.
The best advice is probably to keep his head down and his politics to himself if he wants to be celebrated for passing Howe and Gretzky.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). The best-selling author was nominated for the BBN Business Book award of 2020 for Personal Account with Tony Comper. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, he’s also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. His new book with his son Evan Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History is now available on http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx
Bruce Dowbiggin
The Game That Let Canadians Forgive The Liberals — Again

With the Americans winning the first game 3-1, a sense of panic crept over Canada as it headed to Game 2 in Boston. Losing a political battle with Trump was bad enough, but losing hockey bragging rights heading into a federal election was catastrophic for the Family Compact.
“It’s also more political than the (1972) Summit Series was, because Canada’s existence wasn’t on the line then, and it may be now. You’re damn right Canadians should boo the (U.S.) anthem.” Toronto Star columnist Bruce Arthur before Gm. 1 of USA/ Canada in The 4 Nations Cup.
The year 2025 is barely half over on Canada Day. There is much to go before we start assembling Best Of Lists for the year. But as Palestinian flags duel with the Maple Leaf for prominence on the 158th anniversary of Canada’s becoming a sovereign country it’s a fair guess that we will settle on Febuary 21 as the pivotal date of the year— and Canada’s destiny as well.
That was the date of Game 2 in the U.S./Canada rivalry at the Four Nations Tournament. Ostensibly created by the NHL to replace the moribund All Star format, the showdown of hockey nations in Boston became much more. Jolted by non-sports factors it became a pivotal moment in modern Canadian history.
Set against U.S. president Donald Trump’s bellicose talk of Canada as a U.S. state and the Mike Myers/ Mark Carney Elbows Up ad campaign, the gold-medal game evoked, for those of a certain age, memories of the famous 1972 Summit Series between Canada and the USSR. And somehow produced an unprecedented political reversal in Canadian elections.
As we wrote on Feb. 16 after Gm. 1 in Montreal, the Four Nations had been meant to be something far less incendiary. “Expecting a guys’ weekend like the concurrent NBA All Star game, the fraternal folks instead got a Pier Six brawl. It was the most stunning beginning to a game most could remember in 50 years. (Not least of all the rabid Canadian fanbase urging patriotism in the home of Quebec separation) Considering this Four Nations event was the NHL’s idea to replace the tame midseason All Star Game where players apologize for bumping into each other during a casual skate, the tumult as referees tried to start the game was shocking.
“Despite public calls for mutual respect, the sustained booing of the American national anthem and the Team Canada invocation by MMA legend Georges St. Pierre was answered by the Tkachuck brothers, Matthew and Brady, with a series of fights in the first nine seconds of the game. Three fights to be exact ,when former Canuck J.T. Miller squared up with Brandon Hagel. (All three U.S. players have either played on or now play for Canadian NHL teams.)
“Premeditated and nasty. To say nothing of the vicious mugging of Canada’s legend Sidney Crosby behind the U.S. net moments later by Charlie McEvoy.”
With the Americans winning the game 3-1 on Feb. 15, a sense of panic crept over Canada as it headed to Game 2 in Boston. Losing a political battle with Trump was bad enough, but losing hockey bragging rights heading into a federal election was catastrophic for the Family Compact. As we wrote in the aftermath, a slaughter was avoided.

“In the rematch for a title created just weeks before by the NHL the boys stuck to hockey. Anthem booing was restrained. Outside of an ill-advised appearance by Wayne Gretzky— now loathed for his Trump support— the emphasis was on skill. Playing largely without injured Matthew and Brady Tkachuk and McAvoy, the U.S. forced the game to OT where beleaguered goalie Craig Binnington held Canada in the game until Connor McDavid scored the game winner. “
The stunning turnaround in the series produced a similar turnaround in the Canadian federal election. Galvanized by Trump’s 51st State disrespect and exhilarated by the hockey team’s comeback, voters switched their votes in huge numbers to Carney, ignoring the abysmal record of the Liberals and their pathetic polling. From Pierre Poilievre having a 20-point lead in polls, hockey-besotted Canada flipped to award Carney a near-majority in the April 28 election.
The result stunned the Canadian political class and international critics who questioned how a single sporting event could have miraculously rescued the Liberals from themselves in such a short time.

While Canada soared because of the four Nations, a Canadian icon crashed to earth. “Perhaps the most public outcome was the now-demonization of Gretzky in Canada. Just as they had with Bobby Orr, another Canadian superstar living in America, Canadians wiped their hands of No. 99 over politics. Despite appeals from Orr, Don Cherry and others, the chance to make Gretzky a Trump proxy was too tempting.
We have been in several arguments on the subject among friends: Does Gretzky owe Canada something after carrying its hockey burden for so long? Could he have worn a Team Canada jersey? Shouldn’t he have made a statement that he backs Canada in its showdown with Trump? For now 99 is 0 in his homeland.”
Even now, months later, the events of late February have an air of disbelief around them, a shift so dramatic and so impactful on the nation that many still shake their heads. Sure, hockey wasn’t the device that blew up Canada’s politics. But it was the fuse that created a crater in the country.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
Bruce Dowbiggin
Don & Rick: Canadian Icons, Mixed Messages, Lasting Impacts

“Well, Tim, this is our last show. . . . Thanks everybody for listening and toodaloo,” 91-year old Don Cherry allegedly on his final podcast episode.
Once upon a time in a public broadcaster far, far away there was an identity crisis. Who should we be as we enter the 21st century? We depend on government for our financing, but our audience relies on people who hate government.
At CBC that argument could be summed up by two figures on the TV network. Rick Mercer. Don Cherry. Both were brilliant communicators, masters of the craft of holding eyeballs. But they represented diametrically opposed audiences. Mercer was the glib political voice of This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Cherry was the bombastic voice of Hockey Night in Canada, as Canadian as the brown beer stubby.
Mercer was worshipped by the folks in the C suite and liberal media. With his searing walking shots he lanced egos and asked uncomfortable questions. He called out sacred cows. Yet there was never any doubt in CBC’s upper reaches about whose side he was on in the culture war at CBC. He was safe.
Cherry was the unpredictable occupant of Coach’s Corner, the bombastic voice of white anglo hockey culture. He was abrasive and unforgiving. His first-period rants beside his Topo Gigio Ron Maclean were must-watch for the demographic. They also, it seemed, constituted must watching for his critics.
[Confession: I was one of his critics, paid to be so. We tangled often over his act. He ripped me in the 2004 NHL playoffs, alleging I said he was insincere about kids with cancer. During the infamous 1987 World Junior brawl he said I was a coward who wouldn’t defend his own kids in a fight. etc. He sicced his bots on me. While I disagreed with much of what he said, I defended his right to say such things. My beef was mostly with HNIC which refused to allow any dissent to Cherry’s act on the show . It was a noisy one-note symphony.

Don was durable, holding his prime position for decades, putting himself above the title many Saturdays with headline material. In the sea of pearl clutchers at CBC he stood out. While the suits above recoiled at his Canadian Legion catechism, they also knew he was an asset they could play when they went for funding in Ottawa. “See, we have all sorts of political views on the network.”
When CBC lost its HNIC franchise to Sportsnet Cherry became someone else’s problem. Eventually the Woke folk at Rogers tired of telling him to knock off the politics and cultural stuff. He was let go in 2019 for saying what he’d always said. Maclean then put in the knife to save his own hide.
Mercer’s highly rated act continued unabated till 2018. One of his most popular gigs— the one most likely to appeal to posh Canadians— was talking to Americans about Canada. It was brilliant in its simplicity. Go to famous colleges and universities to plumb the depths of their Canadian knowledge. Likewise, buttonhole well-known American politicians.

The topics were many and ridiculous. Should Canada protect the famous location Joe Clark’s Hole? What should Canada do about its melting national igloo? Could they congratulate Jean Chretien on a rare political feat called a “Double Double” in which he received support from both sides of the Canadian parliament.
He asked Al Gore about Canada moving the capital city from Kingston, Ontario to Toronto (Gore thought it smart). He convinced tourists at Mount Rushmore that the mineral rights to the mountain had been sold to a Canadian firm that was getting ready to drill for oil in Lincoln’s forehead.
He asked Americans to condemn Canada’s practice of euthanizing senior citizens by setting them adrift on Northern ice floes. In a famous moment, future President George W. Bush failed to correct Mercer when he referred to Chrétien as “Jean Poutine”
Mercer always said he didn’t think Americans were ignorant. Eighty percent had the right responses and those never made it to air. For the rest it was just that they couldn’t resist an open mike and having a take on things they knew nothing about. He had affection for them.
For Canada’s Left, insecure in its northern faculty-lounge, that subtlety was lost. Mercer’s routines reinforced a smug anti-American attitude in the Liberals and NDP base. All they saw was a nation of nitwits. “Look, what bozos!” The orientation of the fashionistas turned away from the U.S. to supposed European sophistication and societal controls for climate, population growth and Covid. Hello, Mark Carney.
This bias was reinforced by the increasingly self-loathing voices on the cable news of the American Left. Every GOP figure from George W. Bush till Trump today became a comic character. Canadian lefties adored it. As we’ve written often the snide attitude allowed Canadians to ignore that Americans were protecting them for free and keeping them rich. And taking the overflow from Canadian’s prized healthcare system.
This arrogance culminated in the March election where the mere mention of Trump sent Canadians fleeing back to a Liberal administration that was moribund after a decade of incompetence. It has an echo in Toronto’s Hockey Hall of Fame again declining to award Cherry the Foster Hewitt award as a legendary TV journalist. Love him or hate him he’s earned it. It’s arguable whether the aging Cherry will even be around to be chosen next year.
For sure his political impact will resonate for long after he’s gone in the populist resurgence in western Canada and elsewhere. If only Rick Mercer were allowed back on CBC to cover it.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, his new book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca.
-
Crime2 days ago
National Health Care Fraud Takedown Results in 324 Defendants Charged in Connection with Over $14.6 Billion in Alleged Fraud
-
Health2 days ago
RFK Jr. Unloads Disturbing Vaccine Secrets on Tucker—And Surprises Everyone on Trump
-
Business1 day ago
Elon Musk slams Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ calls for new political party
-
Censorship Industrial Complex1 day ago
Global media alliance colluded with foreign nations to crush free speech in America: House report
-
International22 hours ago
CBS settles with Trump over doctored 60 Minutes Harris interview
-
Business15 hours ago
Latest shakedown attempt by Canada Post underscores need for privatization
-
Business14 hours ago
Why it’s time to repeal the oil tanker ban on B.C.’s north coast
-
Crime11 hours ago
Bryan Kohberger avoids death penalty in brutal killing of four Idaho students