Like other businesses and organizations, the sports world has taken action to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that began last week.
In hockey, that has included the IIHF pulling events out of Russia and banning both Russia and Belarus from participating in any IIHF competitions, and the NHL pausing its business relationships with Russian companies and ruling out any events in Russia for the foreseeable future.
Some want to see the NHL go even further. Dominik Hasek, arguably the greatest goalie in NHL history, called for the league to suspend all Russian players. The idea behind such a move is that it would ramp up pressure on Russian president Vladimir Putin in a country that holds its hockey stars in such high regard.
Mike Milbury weighed in on that idea during his weekly appearance on The Greg Hill Show on Thursday, and said he wouldn’t go that far.
“No. I don’t think so. That’s a little bit silly,” Milbury said. “I don’t know that any of these guys… they’ve all come here to play in the United States for the money, obviously. But we’re gonna examine every guy’s political beliefs?”
Hasek and many others have been particularly critical of Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin, who has been a vocal supporter of Putin for years and who still, as of Thursday, has a photo of him and Putin together as his Instagram profile photo.
When talking to the media last week, Ovechkin vaguely called for peace, but didn’t condemn Putin or the invasion and didn’t mention Ukraine or Ukrainians.
Milbury said that while he’s disappointed in Ovechkin and had hoped to hear more, he still wouldn’t suspend him either.
“I certainly hoped to hear more, but I didn’t expect to hear more,” Milbury said. “…That was a little disappointing. I can understand his personal relationship, but I hope that maybe, eventually, he’ll become able to see the whole picture here with this guy [Putin], and maybe change his mind. But it’s a little disappointing, his statements. I don’t think we need to take his job away from him because he’s not enlightened enough.”
Listen to the full interview with Milbury below. The discussion about Russia and the NHL begins at the 2:10 mark.