Via Paul Kukla of Abel to Yzerman: we had to know this was coming. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has filed an official protest regarding Pavel Datsyuk’s looming induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame this November, citing Datsyuk’s participation in a charity game to support soldiers who died in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
As you probably already know by now, former Red Wings goaltender Dominik Hasek has already protested the Hockey Hall of Fame’s decision to induct Datsyuk this year, and the Hockey News’s Jason Dunech has more about the situation:
Of particular concern to the nonprofit umbrella organization was a report of Datsyuk attending a February 2024 event honoring members of the Russian Armed Forces.
According to Russian media outlet ura.news, Datsyuk attended a hockey tournament dedicated to two Russian military members who died in combat in the conflict against Ukraine.
The UCC letter argues Datsyuk’s participation in the event “signifies his endorsement of Russia’s invasion, the terror Russia has brought to Ukrainian cities and towns and the systemic, brutal atrocities that Russia has committed against Ukrainian civilians.”
The letter concluded by saying the Hall of Fame’s planned induction of Datsyuk was “deeply offensive” and alleged it “would hand a propaganda victory to Russia.”
The UCC urged the Canadian government not to grant Datsyuk entry into the country in November to demonstrate Canada’s “commitment to justice and human rights.”
I’m not quite certain how to address this, because the controversy surrounding Datsyuk’s induction is going to continue as long as there is a war between Russia and Ukraine.
When Datsyuk attended the Red Wings’ Summer Development Camp, he chose not to take questions from the media regarding the conflict. I suppose you can take Datsyuk’s non-answer as a decision based on family reasons, given that the Russians are jailing people for all sorts of minor offenses against the Kremlin, or cowardly, depending upon your point of view.
There is no gray area as to whether Russia is the instigator of an unjust conflict against Ukraine, but whether its athletes need to speak out against said conflict to be assuaged of presumed guilt is another story.
We’ll see what happens between now and November, but I’m not expecting the Hockey Hall of Fame to change its mind on inducting Datsyuk.
