Alex Ovechkin names two Penguins as part of best fighters he’s seen on the ice

No, one wasn’t Mario..

From the files of ‘this is supposed to be fun’, Alex Ovechkin cited a couple of Penguins when asked in a Russian interview about the best fighters he’s played with or against.

From rmnb.com:

Gadzhiev then asked Ovechkin to name who he believes are the best fighters he has shared the ice with during his career.

“Donald Brashear, [Georges] Laraque,” Ovechkin quickly replied.

…

When pressed for a third choice by Gadzhiev, Ovechkin jokingly agreed to include Penguins legend and close friend Evgeni Malkin.

Saving the best of the little ditty at the end for the end, it’s hard to argue Ovechkin instantly thinking about Laraque and Brashear as the two big dogs from his era. Seemingly any and every Pittsburgh/Washington game during the 2006-07 and 2007-08 season when Laraque played for the Pens, you could write it in ink that at some point he would drop the gloves with his fellow heavyweight in Brashear. It was as sure as the opening faceoff or the Zamboni coming out after the horn sounded for the first intermission.

The bout in October 2007 might have been their magnum opus. Laraque hammers Brashear with the left for 80% of the fight, but Brashear is down but not out. He comes back to knock Laraque over with a flurry of lefts of his own.

It was a different time when almost every team had a big tough guy in the lineup primarily there to fight against the other team’s big tough guy, but what a time it was. Certainly didn’t get any better than Brashear and Laraque.

Big Georges noted and thanked Ovechkin for the compliment.

As far as the latter goes, it’s nice that Ovechkin can joke about that with Malkin. The irony is Ovechkin as a fighter ended up breaking the jaw of Malkin’s agent way back in 2007, leading to a very public period of intense feuding between the two star players on the ice that ignited an extremely personal rivalry. That seems like water that’s well under the bridge by this point after the two have put their differences behind one another and reconciled. In the future, maybe Ovi could go with Alex Semin if he wanted a light-hearted way to deflect?

There’s no official word on either but many believe that 2025-26 could be the final NHL season for both Malkin and Ovechkin. Geno turns 39 next week, Ovechkin celebrates his 40th birthday this September. It’s been a long and tremendous run for the both of them through all the twists and turns they’ve seen in long careers.