“The NHL and Gary Bettman must pay for this heinous act”

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Former star goaltender Dominik Hasek brutally attacked the National Hockey League (NHL) and its commissioner Gary Bettman during the All-Star Game.

< p>On Twitter, the Czech denounced that the league let the son of Alexander Ovechkin skate and find himself in the spotlight during the skills competition. It was one of the few interesting or touching moments of the competition.

But Hasek didn't see it the same way.

The @NHL has sunk to rock bottom! Letting Ovechkin's perform on the ice at the NHL All-Star is spitting in the face of approximately 500 killed, thousands injured and tens of thousands of kidnapped Ukrainian children. The NHL and Gary Bettman must pay for this heinous act! pic.twitter.com/XiiuP8dA8Z

— Dominik Hasek (@hasek_dominik) February 4, 2023

“The NHL has hit rock bottom! To let Ovechkin's son skate on the ice during the competition is to spit in the face of approximately 500 dead children, thousands who have been injured and/or kidnapped. The NHL and Gary Bettman must pay for this heinous act.”

The Hall of Famer called for the suspension of Russian players from the NHL last year. “If the NHL does not suspend them, it is indirectly co-responsible for the deaths in Ukraine,” he wrote on Twitter in February 2022.

Recall that Ovechkin was strongly criticized for posting his support for President Putin in the past.

“I am convinced that many of us support Vladimir Putin. So, let's unite and show everyone a united and strong Russia!”, he wrote in 2017 on a website in support of the Russian president.

After the start of the war in Ukraine , Ovechkin also indicated that Putin remains his “president” by calling for an end to the war. “It doesn't matter who is at war – Russia, Ukraine or other countries – I think we have to live in peace.”

The whole thing caused Hasek to react, calling the attacker a “chicken”.