Ted Leonsis recalls the return trip from the NHL awards ceremony last June.
Alex Ovechkin had won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league MVP, the Lester B. Pearson Award as the most outstanding player chosen by the NHL Players Association, the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top point scorer and the Maurice Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal scorer. There was so much hardware, it nearly didn’t fit on the plane.
As thrilled as Leonsis was that one of his team’s players had been so decorated, Leonsis said to Ovechkin: “Do you want to be like Charles Barkley, a great player and a big personality who makes a lot of money and is loved by everybody? Or do you want to be like Michael Jordan and win championships?” Asked after Monday night’s Game 2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins if he recalled Ovechkin’s response, Leonsis said, “Alex knows that a place in history only comes with winning the Stanley Cup.”
washingtonpost.com
5/6/09
