Evgeni Malkin once revealed how ‘Great Eight’ Alex Ovechkin’s CRUDE actions severed friendship between two NHL stars

Russian stars Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin who were once good friends, became foes later on citing shocking personal and on-ice issues.

Evgeni Malkin once revealed how ‘Great Eight’ Alex Ovechkin’s CRUDE actions severed friendship between two NHL stars

Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin [Image Credit: SI]

Both Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin are well-known players in the NHL. However not many are aware of how Malkin and Ovechkin turned from friends to foes throughout incidences in their professional journey. Regardless of their past ventures, they are currently both top NHL players who are revered by young generations and beloved by fans.

Both are Russian-born players who took the league stage by storm following their on-ice debut. Ovechkin was selected 1st overall by the Washington Capitals in 2004 and right after, Malkin got the chance to don the jersey of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the same year.

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Although Ovechkin already got his first win in the 2005-06 season, Malkin joined the league in 2006 following an international transfer debut. At that time both were friends who brewed friendly rivalry on stage. Unfortunately, certain incidents turned their friendship sour over time.

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Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin’s soured friendship affected stars both on and off-ice

Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin [Image Credit: RMNB]
Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin [Image Credit: RMNB]

While the spotlight is always given to Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby’s rivalry, Ovie and Malkin’s tension started brewing following the 2007 tension. Sid and Ovie debuted back-to-back in the same season, taking the NHL by storm and establishing themselves as icons in their own teams.

Whenever these two giants took the stage, all attention would be on them, and deservedly so. But little did fans know, a darkened situation between the two Russian dynamos was already taking place. According to StarsandSticks, the tension between Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin started in 2007.

Ovie reportedly punched Malkin’s Russian agent Gennady Usakov at a Moscow nightclub in 2007. Usakov apparently made a bad comment about Ovechkin and in turn, ‘The Great Eight’ took physical action. He not only punched the agent but also broke his jaw.

This incident soured the relationship between the two, as Malkin once labeled it as a “bad situation” in an interview in 2009. Following this incident, Ovie would take runs on Malkin on-ice whenever given the chance in games. Penguins and Capitals were always rival teams in their won league, and both the Russian players also took it to their personal lives.

Before the whole Moscow 2007 incident began, Malkin and Ovie were pretty good friends who even shared rooms during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. The incident that followed the club night, was in 2008 when Ovechkin attempted a brutal hit on Malkin. 

Although things have calmed down since then, the rivalry still irks up when both teams face each other in the game. Compared to Malkin and Ovie’s soured relationship, Sidney Crosby’s and Ovie’s rivalry remained only on the ice. Both are friends in personal life and often text each other prior to important games.

Although it’s not certain yet, maybe someday Malkin and Ovie would come together as friends in their personal life while keeping their rivalry strictly for games. Meanwhile, fans are just excitedly waiting for the day when Ovie and Sid will face each other following the 2023-24 regular season.

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