Steven Oleksy has a perspective most players never get: he’s worn both the Capitals and Penguins sweaters, and he’s seen Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby up close. With Washington and Pittsburgh set to meet on D.C.’s opening night this coming season, Oleksy is thinking back on what it meant to be around two of hockey’s defining stars.
“If you could handpick two organizations to play for, everybody would probably select those two,” Oleksy said. “It's incredible, it's incredible being able to play with (Ovi) and Sid, two very different people and players.”
Oleksy’s NHL path began in Washington after he finally earned an entry-level contract and a call-up in 2013. One of the first faces he saw in the locker room was Ovechkin, and what stood out immediately was the captain’s devotion to the sport.
“There's not a pure goal scorer that I've ever seen in any era that compares to him, and somebody who just loves the game of hockey. I think from a grassroots level, it's players like that that people should latch onto,” Oleksy said, adding, “He literally played for the pure love and enjoyment of the game, and it ultimately translated to success.”
He spent three years with the Capitals before moving on to Pittsburgh, where he got the chance to share the ice with Crosby. Much of that stretch came in a leadership role with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, but the experience still left a mark.
“Sid's one of the best human beings I've ever met,” Oleksy add, adding, “I walk in after getting off the ice, and Sidney Crosby's dishing up drinks to everybody from the Stanley Cup. I wish I would've embraced it more; the tiniest bit touched my lips,a nd that was it. But I have a cool picture of it, and Sid signed a few copies for me.”
Braden Holtby, one of Oleksy’s closest friends, later asked for one of those photos of him lifting the Cup.
Even with that championship memory, Oleksy said there was a complicated feeling attached to winning away from Washington. He had come to think of D.C. as home, and that never really changed after he left.
“You're like, 'Oh man,...' you feel guilty, you feel sad, you feel bad because it's not with the people that you came up with and the people that were so special with,” Oleksy said. “My first year in Pittsburgh, they treated me great and it was awesome, but we had such a special thing in D.C., and all those guys played so hard and helped me for so long to put me in that position to win with Pittsburgh.
“Then, when Washington won it, aside from my career, that was one of the best sports moments for me to see those guys win that and accomplish that. It relieved a lot of those feelings.”
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