The Capitals are one victory away from winning the Stanley Cup, and while players have said that they're trying not to think too far ahead about possible celebrations, one player was asked Wednesday about a specific championship ritual.
Caps forward Devante-Smith Pelly indicated he would likely skip a championship visit to the White House if his team wins the Cup and receives an invitation.
“The things that [President Donald Trump] spews are straight-up racist and sexist," Smith-Pelly said a day before a potentially clinching Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Golden Knights in Las Vegas, according to The National Post. "Some of the things he’s said are pretty gross. … It hasn’t come up here, but I think I already have my mind made up.”
Smith-Pelly, one of two black players in the Capitals' locker room (Madison Bowey is other), has been the target of racism in the NHL this season. In a game at United Center in Chicago, Blackhawks fans sitting near the penalty box yelled "Basketball!" at Smith-Pelly while he was serving a minor. Those fans were later banned from the arena.
Capitals owner Ted Leonsis has never said outright that he's anti-Trump, but he did host a fundraising dinner for Hillary Clinton prior to the 2016 presidential election. In his explanation for getting involved, Leonsis cited the importance of the immigration issue in the U.S., which would seemingly align him opposite Trump. Leonsis' grandparents were Greek immigrants.
“I always stayed above the fray,” Leonsis said in an interview with The Washington Post, "but this time, there was one compelling issue for me, and it had to do with my heritage.
“All I could think of was, imagine if we had a president back then who said, ‘No, you can’t come in.' It really bothered me.”
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Leonsis is not the only member of the Capitals organization who has spoken recently about alliances in the current political climate. Washington captain and Russia native Alex Ovechkin began a social media movement last November when he posted on Instagram his support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, joining what Ovechkin called the "Putin Team."
"Only a team is capable of changing the course of a game, achieve the impossible,” Ovechkin wrote, as translated by The Washington Post. "Lately, in the Western Press, I'm noticing a comparison to Putin's team. And you know, I really liked that comparison. Personally, I’m ready to be a member of that team. I never hid my relationship with our president, always openly supported him."
Ovechkin later said, "It’s not about political stuff."
Smith-Pelly's comments came just days after Trump uninvited the Super Bowl champion Eagles to a scheduled White House visit after it was reported the majority of the players planned not to attend.
It has become a tradition for teams that win North American sports championships to be invited to the White House, but those invitations have not gone smoothly since Trump has been in office. A year ago, the Warriors were similarly uninvited after Trump cited Stephen Curry hesitating to make a decision about attending. The Cavaliers' LeBron James said neither Cleveland nor Golden State would attend this year following the NBA Finals.
The Penguins did visit the White House after winning the Stanley Cup last year, and they drew criticism from former players like Georges Laraque for doing so. The Penguins said the visit wasn't about politics.
While the NFL and the NBA have been involved with social issues that have intersected with Trump's office, the NHL has not. NFL players have protested police brutality in the United States by kneeling during the national anthem, an action that Trump pointed out when he withdrew his invitation to the Eagles (no Eagles players knelt in protest last season). NHL players have not engaged in such protests.
Smith-Pelly, a Toronto native, said he considered protesting during the national anthem but ultimately chose not to do so. The only NHL player to show some form of protest during the anthem was then-Lightning forward J.T. Brown, who raised his right fist in the air while the anthem was being performed at BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla., in October. Brown, a Minnesota native, is black.