Ovechkin buys homeless man sweater, coat and hat

EDMONTON-- Washington Capitals Alex Ovechkin felt it was the right thing to do; nothing more, nothing less.
Asked Saturday about a social media post that said he was spotted giving a homeless man his coat and hat on Friday, Ovechkin tried to downplay the act.

"[It was] nothing," Ovechkin said at Rogers Place prior to Washington's game against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN1, NBCSWA, NHL.TV). "I just went to the store with [teammates Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov]. I saw the guy; no shirt. Went to the store to buy him a sweater, coat and a hat."
Ovechkin, who has 10 goals in 10 games this season, said he didn't think the man recognized him.
"He was like, 'Are you serious?' He was a little bit shocked," Ovechkin said. "Again, we don't have to concentrate on this moment right now.
"It's something I think if you saw a guy almost naked out there with a cold temperature; I think every human can do something, a coat or a shirt or whatever."

Capitals forward Tom Wilson said Saturday his teammate's compassion for others did not surprise him.
"I think 100 percent, [Ovechkin] gets a bad rap a lot of the time, but he's a guy that he does his thing and is not necessarily worried about what other people are going to think about him," Wilson said. "That's a guy who wouldn't do that for the attention; he's doing that because he felt it was the right thing to do at the time."
Capitals coach Barry Trotz echoed Wilson.
"I think what you're going to find in hockey in general is that they're pretty giving people," Trotz said. "They give of their time and of their blessings, and that doesn't surprise me at all."