Demonstrators will gather in Kanata on Tuesday under a banner the organizers call “Rally: No War Crimes in Ottawa.” The Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), which coordinates the protest, is targeting Ovechkin’s appearance with the Washington Capitals against the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre, according to CTV News Ottawa. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:01 p.m. local time.
The flashpoint is a television advertisement Ovechkin filmed for Putin’s United Russia party. In the spot, the Capitals forward stands behind Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who declares there will be “no mercy” for those attacking Russia. Latvia has since barred Ovechkin as persona non grata.
Ten goals from passing Gretzky again
Ovechkin is not chasing Gretzky’s regular-season mark in Ottawa; he passed that total of 894 goals in April 2025. What remains is the combined all-time record of 1,016, built from Gretzky’s 894 regular-season goals and 122 in the playoffs.
Ovechkin opened the 2026-27 season on 929 regular-season goals and 77 in the playoffs, a combined 1,006. His start has been slow: reports put him at one goal through 14 games, leaving him nine short of Gretzky’s combined total and 10 away from passing it.
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“A moral stain on the NHL”
The UCC’s campaign escalated on October 8, when national president Alexandra Chyczij published a statement demanding that Canada’s immigration minister block Ovechkin from entering the country for the Ottawa game.
“That the National Hockey League celebrates Ovechkin and ignores his support of a genocidal regime is a moral stain on the NHL,” Chyczij wrote.
In a separate statement in September, reported by CP24, the UCC framed the hockey star as an active campaigner for the Kremlin.
“Ovechkin is campaigning for United Russia, a party of war criminals who abduct Ukrainian children and murder Ukrainian civilians,” the organization said.
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Two parliamentary e-petitions, e-7787 and e-7798, now sit before the House of Commons seeking to declare him inadmissible to Canada.
Ovechkin’s “no politics” position
Ovechkin launched the “PutinTeam” social-media movement in 2017 and has never publicly broken with the Russian president. When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, he told reporters, “Please, no more war,” while refusing to criticize Putin personally.
“He’s my president, but I’m not in politics. I’m an athlete,” Ovechkin said to reporters at the time, in comments carried by The Globe and Mail. “I’m for peace and love, and I hope everybody understands everybody wants peace.”
He has not publicly addressed the Ottawa rally.
Ottawa holds the political file
The federal government has so far declined to impose sanctions or an entry ban. Justice Minister Sean Fraser offered the sharpest Liberal comment on the United Russia advertisement in September.
“If you can look at what’s going on in Ukraine right now, and turn a blind eye to the atrocities being committed by the Putin regime, then you are at best wilfully blind,” Fraser said.
The Capitals face the Senators on Tuesday, November 10, at the Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata, about 25 kilometers west of downtown Ottawa.
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