Men's Journal

When you furnish the world’s best hockey player with a ritzy New York hotel room and the season’s best, um, accessories, you know he’s going to put them to good use. Especially when that player is Alex Ovechkin.

Interview by Ivan Solotaroff
Photographs by Anders Overgaard
Fashion by Patti O’Brien

Behind the scenes footage from the shoot:

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As dazzling as he is on the ice for the Washington Capitals, skating like an Eric Heiden–Scott Hamilton hybrid on breakaways and celebrating goals unabashedly, Alex Ovechkin is just as flashy off it. The 24-year-old Russian, the NHL’s reigning (and back-to-back) MVP, has a penchant for club hopping, fast driving, and dating beautiful women, and he will answer our rapid-fire questions however the spirit moves him.

Goals or assists?
Goals.
Stanley Cup or gold medal?
Both.
American or Russian hockey fans?
Russian.
Because they’re more knowledgeable?
Because they’re Russian.
Moscow or DC?
Moscow in the summer.
Italian suit or jeans and T-shirt?
T-shirt.
Blonde or brunette?
Both.
Jessica Alba or Megan Fox?
[Smiles] Definitely both.
Greatest player of all time?
Mario Lemieux.
Where do you rank?
No comment.
Your rival, Sidney Crosby: dislike him?
I love him.
You send him cards on his birthday?
I send him cards every day.
Your worst injury?
No injuries.
None?
Five broken noses. But I finish the games each time.
Why don’t you have an agent?
Selfish. I don’t want to pay.
Do you remember your first million-dollar check?
[Big smile] Yes. Yes, I do.
How did it feel?
It felt heavy.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve done off-ice that you will talk about?
Nothing.
Nothing?
Nothing I will talk about.
You once told a pretty Russian journalist that sex before games helps you. True?
Yes, she was pretty.
What does the White House look like when you’re driving past it at 180 mph?
I don’t know. You have to look straight.
What do you love most about hockey?
Winning.
What bores you more than anything?
This. [Smiles] Most boring thing ever.