Alex Ovechkin delivers personal message that leaves hockey fans stunned

Alex Ovechkin was asked to name his favorite hockey player of all time, and the answer wasn't the one most people expected.

The question came up during a conversation with former NHL forward Nikita Filatov and ex-soccer star Andrey Arshavin for FONBET.

Ovechkin skipped over a fellow Russian and skipped over his childhood favorite team, the San Jose Sharks, entirely.

"Mario Lemieux," Ovechkin said, naming a player he actually faced just once, during his rookie season back in 2005-06.

The pick makes more sense the closer you look at it. Lemieux finished his career with 1,723 points on 690 goals and 1,033 assists in just 915 games.

He won two Stanley Cups, three MVP awards, led the league in scoring six times, and went into the Hall of Fame back in 1997.

Ovechkin has praised Lemieux publicly before too, particularly back when he tied Lemieux's career goal total in 2020.

Ovechkin and Crosby's rivalry has since turned to friendship

"It's great. He's one of my idols when I'm growing up," Ovechkin said at the time. "I get lucky. I have a time to play against him."

Lemieux even gifted Ovechkin a game-used stick from that single meeting between the two back in 2005.

Ovechkin has since blown past that entire generation of scorers, breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record with his 895th career goal against the Islanders in April 2025.

Lemieux is notably one of the few players from that old top-10 list, alongside the late Gordie Howe, who never publicly congratulated Ovechkin on the milestone.

There's real irony in this pick too, given the history involved. The Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins built one of hockey's most heated modern rivalries around Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby's careers.

That tension has cooled considerably over the years, to the point where the two future Hall of Famers now consider each other genuine friends.

Ovechkin has previously pointed to Owen Nolan as his go-to favorite growing up, largely because of his loyalty to the Sharks during Nolan's run there in the 90s and early 2000s.

"My favorite team was San Jose. I was cheering for them, especially when Nolan was there," Ovechkin said back in 2023.

Lemieux, meanwhile, remains a minority owner and team ambassador in Pittsburgh, having bought the franchise out of bankruptcy back in 1999 before selling his majority stake to Fenway Sports Group in 2021.

Picking a player from a rival organization, one he only shared the ice with once, says plenty about how much respect actually exists underneath old hockey rivalries once the games stop counting.