Open letter to Andrei Svechnikov

Dear Andrei,

First time writer (to you), long time watcher. It is with the purest of intentions that I must write you this letter of thanks and appreciation. We here at hockeyfights.com appreciate every single player that is willing to drop the gloves, whether it’s a top line guy like yourself (or Ovechkin), to the guys trying to make a living in Junior A, B, and C, and not to mention the guys keeping the dream alive in their own rec leagues. So, to start this thing off, thank you for challenging someone to a fight.

I don’t think you challenged your fellow countryman (and probably your hero) Alexander Ovechkin to a fight expecting to get knocked out so cleanly. It happened and you’re a pro that will move on from it.

I don’t think you don’t agree with your head coach (Rod Brind’Amour) who upon seeing you go down so hard had this to say about the need for fighting in hockey:

because as I am sure you would agree, if you had instead knocked the snot out of Ovechkin, his tune would have been very different.

I don’t think you agree with this random observer of your loss last night:

because the logic displayed here (although seamless, save for the whole “mutual combat” clause of law) is easily applied to many things on a daily baseless.

If I could offer one simple piece of advice to you; if you have some time this offseason, visit hockeyfights.com and study up on what your teammate Michael Ferland has done and been doing correctly in his fights. Just want to see you challenging people to fights again soon, and holding your own!

All that aside, once again my friend, thank you for keeping the fights going. The entire hockey world hopes you recover nicely from this and are back to your scoring ways soon.

Signed,

Dan