Washington Capitals and NHL superstar Alex Ovechkin is on the cusp of breaking a scoring record many believed would never be broken: the 894 goals scored by Wayne Gretzky over his illustrious career.
As of this writing, Ovechkin sits at 875 goals. Only he, Gretzky and Gordie Howe are members of the 800-goal club. With only 30 games left in the season – he missed 15 games this year with injuries – it will be tough, but not impossible to eclipse Gretzky’s record this year.
That said, if he does not, there is not a person in hockey who does not believe Ovechkin will break the record early next year and go on to score over 900 goals. A record I predict will never be broken.
Ovechkin is a phenom; the human equivalent of a brick wall at 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds; and arguably one of the top five players ever to skate in the NHL. The other four in my opinion are Gretzky, Howe, Bobby Orr and Mario Lemieux.
Ovechkin also has that elusive "It Factor," which has made him world famous. Most especially in his native Russia.
Way back in the day as a teenager, I had a dream to play in the NHL. I was fortunate enough to get invited to one NHL camp and several minor league camps. Only a complete lack of talent and a knee injury kept me from realizing that dream. But it was the love of hockey that inspired me to follow the truly amazing career of Ovechkin.
Years later, I executed a 180 away from sports and somehow ended up as a writer in the White House for two presidents, an official at the Pentagon, director of communications for former Sen. Bob Dole, a vice president of a well-known government relations firm, and a principal at the then largest law firm in the world, where I specialized in politics and government relations.
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And it is because of that background, that I have been viewing Ovechkin through a totally different prism.
Anyone who has remotely followed the life and career of Ovechkin knows that he is a man of character. He is renowned for being a great husband, father, friend, teammate, and a giving philanthropist.
He is also renowned for loving his native Russia and her people. As he should.
Today – quite sadly – we live in a very polarized country and world where far too many people operate from personal and ideological silos separated from all others. As one who has worked in politics at a fairly high level, I will confess to not being a fan of either political party.
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My "Party" for the last 15 years or so has been the "commonsense" Party. I strongly believe it is in the best interest of all of us to speak to each other in a civil manner while seeking out shared interests and solutions.
Over the last three years, one of the subjects that has become politicized and polarized is the war in Ukraine. This is not the forum to have a back and forth on that subject. That acknowledged, I will venture to say that we as a people and as a nation must make it clear that the people of Russia are not our enemy. Unfortunately, over the last three years, we have witnessed a number of athletes from Russia treated as the "enemy" by some.
Because of the war in Ukraine, some have chosen to rhetorically attack Ovechkin for his friendship with Vladimir Putin. While it’s always easy – especially in the age of social media – to attack someone on the floor of the "arena" from the peanut gallery in the stands or from 30,000 feet up, it’s also almost impossible to know the facts, the history, or someone’s heart from that distance.
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Judgments of Putin aside, I find it admirable that Ovechkin – while making it clear multiple times that while he is not political, he does love his country and does not want to see war between Russia and Ukraine – has refused to walk away from his friendship with the Russian president.
And like it or not, it is that decision, along with his fame, charisma and personal generosity, which have made Ovechkin a beloved figure in Russia.
Today, as I operate from under my political hat, I am always scoping the landscape to assess who might be the best candidate for the Democrats and the Republicans come 2028. JD Vance for the Republicans. No idea for the splintered Democrats.
It is from under that same hat that I look at the landscape of Russia with the understanding that at some point, Putin will stand aside. And then what? Who might fill such a tremendous vacuum?
As someone who does have a fairly deep understanding of politics, all I can say is that Alexander Ovechkin checks a great many boxes. Never say "never."
Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko extended his more than three decades in power in an orchestrated weekend election that the opposition and the European Union rejected as a farce.
The Central Election Commission declared early Monday that Lukashenko won the election with nearly 87% of the vote after a campaign in which four token challengers all praised his rule.
Members of the country's political opposition, many of whom are imprisoned or exiled abroad by Lukashenko's unrelenting crackdown on dissent and free speech, called the election a sham — much like the last one in 2020 that triggered months of protests that were unprecedented in the history of the country of 9 million people.
Since then, more than 65,000 people were arrested and thousands beaten, with the crackdown bringing condemnation and sanctions from the West.
The EU rejected Sunday's vote as illegitimate and threatened new sanctions.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the election offered no choice to voters, marking "a bitter day for all those who long for freedom and democracy."
"Instead of free and fair elections and a life without fear and arbitrariness, they experience daily oppression, repression and human rights violations," she said in a post on X.
Lukashenko has been in power since 1994 and has ruled the country with an iron fist. He has relied on subsidies and political support from Russian President Vladimir Putin, himself in office for a quarter-century, a relationship that helped him survive the 2020 protests.
Lukashenko allowed Moscow to use the country’s territory to invade Ukraine in 2022 and later hosted some of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons.
Putin called Lukashenko on Monday to congratulate him on his "convincing victory." Chinese President Xi Jinping also sent congratulations.
Some observers believe Lukashenko feared a repeat of those mass demonstrations amid economic troubles and the fighting in Ukraine, and so scheduled the vote in January, when few would want to fill the streets again, rather than hold it in August.
Leading opponents have fled abroad or were thrown in prison. Activists say the country holds nearly 1,300 political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, founder of the Viasna Human Rights Center.
Since July, Lukashenko has pardoned more than 250 people. At the same time, authorities have sought to uproot dissent by arresting hundreds more in raids targeting relatives and friends of political prisoners.
Opposition leader-in-exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who fled Belarus under government pressure after challenging Lukashenko in 2020, denounced the election as a "senseless farce" and urged voters to cross off everyone listed on the ballot.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready to negotiate a deal to end the war with Russia, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin would like to meet soon.
Trump spoke to reporters after signing multiple executive orders Thursday afternoon in the Oval Office. When a reporter asked if Zelenskyy told him he was ready to negotiate a solution to the war with Russia, Trump provided confirmation.
"Yes, he’s ready to negotiate a deal. He’d like to stop this," Trump said. "He’s somebody that lost a lot of soldiers, and so did Russia. … Russia lost more soldiers. They lost 800,000. Would you say that’s a lot? I’d say it’s a lot."
He was also asked if sanctions on Russia would force Putin to negotiate.
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"I don’t know, but I think he should make a deal," Trump said.
Trump also told reporters Chinese President Xi Jinping could have an influence on the war between Russia and Ukraine since it has power over Russia. He explained that the two countries are big trading partners.
Russia, Trump noted, supplies China with a lot of energy, and the latter pays the former a lot of money.
"I think they have a lot of power over Russia, so I think Russia should want to make a deal," Trump said. "From what I hear, Putin would like to see me, and we’ll meet as soon as we can."
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When he described the war in Ukraine, Trump said soldiers were being killed on a battlefield that "is like no battlefield since World War II."
"Soldiers are being killed on a daily basis at numbers that we haven’t seen in decades," he said. "It would be nice to end that war. It’s a ridiculous war."
Putin is reportedly worried about the state of his country’s economy as Trump returns to the Oval Office. According to a Reuters report citing various sources, Trump's push to end the war in Ukraine is only adding to Putin's concerns.
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Throughout his campaign, Trump pushed to end world conflicts, including the Russia-Ukraine war, which began with Putin’s 2022 invasion.
Last month, Putin said he was ready to compromise over Ukraine in possible talks with Trump on ending the war and had no conditions for starting talks with Ukrainian authorities.
"We have always said that we are ready for negotiations and compromises," Putin said at the time, after saying that Russian forces, advancing across the entire front, were moving toward achieving their primary goals in Ukraine.
"In my opinion, soon there will be no one left who wants to fight. We are ready, but the other side needs to be ready for both negotiations and compromises."
Fox News Digital’s Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.
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