Ovechkin joins the Blockasset Legends
The Great Eight, ice hockey superstar Alexander Ovechkin has joined the Blockasset Legends NFT collection.
The Legends NFT collection is the world’s first multi-athlete generative NFT collection, made up of five legendary athletes from 5 different sports. The collection will be made up of 10,000 NFTs, 2,000 per athlete.
Each Legendary athlete will have their own set of traits designed by Dosbrak in partnership with the athletes themselves. The 10,000 NFTs will go up for sale, with users able to mint an NFT at the same time, first come first serve.
Generative NFTs are completely random, the traits assigned to the NFT are randomized using an algorithm. Blockasset has added another layer to gamify this randomness even further, as the athlete you get on mint will also be completely random alongside the traits. Legends NFTs are inspired by childhood memories of opening sports trading cards packs, not knowing which athlete you’ll land. It’s a new concept, which makes this collection incredibly unique, a first in the NFT space.
Aleksandr Ovechkin is regarded as the most valuable player in the National Hockey League. Plying his trade on the left wing, the Russian has three Hart Memorial Trophies to his name and was an instrumental component in the Washington Capitals’ first-ever Stanley Cup win in 2018.
The Aleksandr Ovechkin story
Born in the USSR to a mother who won two Olympic gold medals, and a father who played professional football, it was almost certain that Aleksandr Ovechkin would continue his family’s impressive athletic lineage.
As a youngster Ovechkin committed to intense hockey training at the Dynamo Moscow sports school, making a name for himself as a serial goal-scorer throughout his time within the system. His speed and eye for goal earned him a call up to the Dynamo Moscow first team for the 2001–02 season.
Debuting at the age of 16, Ovechkin would go on to score an incredible 36 goals across 152 career games, assisting 32 in the process. As well as looking the real deal for his club, he was also the standout player for the Russian national junior hockey team at the age of 17.
The Moscow native’s prodigious rise through the Russian hockey system earned him a dream move to the Washington Capitals with the first overall pick of the 2004 NHL draft, but his inaugural season was delayed by a season due to the nationwide labor lockout that canceled the NHL season.
After much anticipation, Ovechkin would finally make his NHL debut in 2005 alongside a string of highly touted youngsters, including Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins. But the Russian would blow them all out of the water, scoring a jaw-dropping 106 points to earn the Calder Memorial Trophy for Rookie of the year, 2005–06.
The 2006–07 season saw the Capitals finish bottom for a second consecutive year, but despite this Ovechkin made his first NHL All-Star Game and was a player that his club could build around in the following season.
And this is exactly what they would do. With Ovechkin, the central component of a new-look team, the Capitals shocked the world as they won the division title. The Russian contributed with 65 goals, the first time since 1999 that an NHL player had scored North of 60 in a season.
Despite losing the playoff series, Ovechkin still picked up his first Hart Memorial Trophy. His second would come in the next season as he once again helped the Caps to a sensational title win, but once again he could not help his side to make it past a dramatic seven-game conference semi-final.
Following two more semi-final losses, Ovechkin would make it a hat-trick of Hart Memorial Trophies, netting 32 goals during the lockout-shortened 48-game campaign of 2012–13. Critics had mooted that the Russian’s performances were diminishing, but his third title win was more than enough to close this discussion down.
In 2015, Ovechkin scored his 484th goal to become the NHL’s top-scoring Russian-born player. His speed and agility meant that he was a goal-machine, and breaking records was an inevitable consequence of his ability. But his biggest headline was still to be written.
Three years on from his record-breaking season, Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals finally managed to get over the line in the play-offs to reach the Stanley Cup finals. Years of play-off agony had preceded the 2017–18 season for the Caps who now had the chance to make franchise history.
Ovechkin shined during the finals, scoring his 15th goal of the playoffs in a five-game victory over Vegas Golden Knights to lift the famous trophy. It was the Caps’ first-ever Stanley Cup in their history whilst Ovechkin had become the first Russian player to captain a team to the NHL championship. His heroic performances earned him the Conn Smythe Trophy for the most valuable player in the playoffs.
Aleksandr Ovechkin will always be held in high regard by fans of the NHL. His speed of play and goal-scoring prowess gave him a velocity that other players just could not match. His burning desire for the sport combined with his undeniable ability made him an all-time NHL great, and his trophy haul with the Washington Capitals highlights this.
Details on the release of the Ovechkin NFT, designed by Dosbrak, will be available in due course on our website and social media channels.
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