from Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post,

While the NHL has been firm on its position to not participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics, Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is still hopeful he can represent his native Russia in PyeongChang, South Korea.

“We’ll hope I’ll be allowed to participate,” he said in Russian to Sport-Express. “There’s always a chance.”

Ovechkin added that there hasn’t been any change in his status, and he also hasn’t contacted players from other NHL teams about their intentions for the Olympics.

continued