Malamud's interview with Ovechkin

 Tarik decided to take it down, I guess it will be a full blown article in Washington Post, but Paul Kukla was quick enough to catch a glimpse of that interview:

Q & A with Alexander Ovechkin

If you and Malkin ever got into a fight on the ice - who would win?
Whoever landed the first punch. But fighting is not my calling. And really, I don’t see any rivalry between myself and Malkin. Or between myself and Crosby. And now they are adding Semin to our threesome too. There is nothing of that sort: we just play, get our points, someone is in front, someone is second… Of course, a headline like “Ovechkin Versus Malkin” catches the eye, but I don’t see any reason to pour gasoline onto the fire.

Update:
Guest Blogger: Things Ovechkin Hates

What is the question from the media that you are most tired of?
It used to be "Compare yourself with Crosby." Now it's "Compare yourself with Malkin." Actually, I have to do two or three interviews every day and almost always they ask me the same things. I could even write all the standard questions on a piece of paper and just hand it out to the journalists.

Staying with the subject, could you talk about your relationship with Malkin? There are rumors of all but a war between you two.
No, there is no war and everything that was between us is in the past. I just think that he was wrong in acting like he did. He said things that shouldn't have been said. I won't go into it in detail.

Do you mean your confrontation with his agent Ushakov? Malkin's words in the media that the fight indeed took place?
Yes, I won't go further into it. He shouldn't have said it.

Is there something about life in America that you don't like?
Nothing really bothers me. What is there to be bothered about? I spend most of my time with the other Russian guys... Well, maybe the drivers. The way they drive here, you could write a book about it!

Too slow?
Oh yes! There are drivers here with the capital D! In Russia they would simply get shot. Let's say you are driving on an empty two-lane road. Any fool knows the left lane is the fast one! But here they don't get it at all. Two of them will get next to each other and just keep going like that: nobody in front of them and a traffic jam behind. Why, why would you drive slowly in the left lane? Who knows. They just do it.

And what are the things that you like the most about living here?
I have never been lied to [anything] here. Take my relationship with the team, for example. Everything they promise me, they always do it. It never happens that they tell you something and then forget. I have never before seen such professional relationship anywhere.

Is there anything you miss the most?
The pace of life in Moscow. When I am there, I don't even have the time to relax. I would get home at four in the morning, sleep for four hours and - back in the saddle again. Hanging out, partying... What do you expect? If a guy toils without rest for nine months, what should he do: come home and sit in front of the TV with a bottle of water and potato chips and watch the news?"

You lead an interesting life.
In truth, what they write about me is much more interesting than how I live... They had written that in Beijing (at the Olympics) I got drunk and totally destroyed a hotel room... (And) the Russian press has made me into such a ladies' man... As soon as I arrive in Moscow, go to a party and sit down with somebody at the same table, they will immediately write about Ovechkin's new romance. So, I try not to go with anyone or only to go with (male) friends. So they will wind up thinking that I am... All right, that's enough about that.

Is this why you offended Miss Virginia after one of the home games, refusing to have a picture taken with her?
Ah, it's nothing. I didn't even see her. I just heard someone saying something to me about a Miss Virginia, so I said that our girls are better and left.