from Mike Wise of The Washington Post,

He heard every knock, every stereotype, including the most disturbing: that a flamboyant, Russian player who speaks broken English did not have the qualities to galvanize all those gritty North Americans into becoming a special team, even though the Swedish-born Nicklas Lidstrom became the first European NHL captain to hoist the Stanley Cup in 2008.

“I know some people thought this,” he says. “People look at my countryside. Because of this and because I was young, it was pretty hard for me to accept captaincy.”

The NHL’s leading goal scorer recently thought for a second, scratched his head and tugged on his tight-fitting black designer T-shirt, the one that read, “Kobe Bryant — The Black Mamba.” The Russian Machine emoted a half-smile.

“But I know 100 percent now team is on my side,” Ovechkin says. “You know, if I want to say something I’m going to say something. They’re going to understand me, which is most important thing.”

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