Alex Ovechkin Named Best Male Athlete of The Year in the US

WASHINGTON, D.C. – July 20, 2018

The captain of the Stanley Cup winning Washington Capitals, Russian forward Alex Ovechkin (49 goals and 38 assists last NHL regular season, 15 goals and 12 assists in the playoffs), was named Male Athlete of the year at the ESPY Awards ceremony.

Ovechkin became the first NHL player in the history of the award, and only the second European winner ever, after basketball player Dirk Nowitzki, since the establishment of the award in 1993.

Ovechkin led the NHL with 49 goals to win the Rocket Richard Trophy for the seventh time. He became the 20th player with 600 NHL goals when he scored twice against the Winnipeg Jets on March 12th. He was the fourth player to reach the milestone in fewer than 1,000 NHL games (990), joining Wayne Gretzky (718), Mario Lemieux (719) and Brett Hull (900).