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While we may never see it again on actual NHL ice, Alex Ovechkin’s iconic mirrored visor is officially back in video game form.
The NHL posted a screenshot of Digi Ovi rocking his Robo Cop-like shield in NHL 23.
“Mirrored visor x #NHL23,” the league wrote on Twitter.
Mirrored visor x #NHL23 🔥🔥
Don’t miss the @EASPORTSNHL gameplay trailer ➡️ https://t.co/HvlfBYYse0 pic.twitter.com/lv1sXM6euA
— NHL (@NHL) August 29, 2022
RMNB reached out to EA Sports to get the lo-down.
“The mirrored visor is a customizable option that can be added to any player, real or created,” an EA Sports NHL 23 representative told us. “Ovechkin does not wear a mirrored visor by default.”
If the game is similar to NHL 22, the mirrored visor can be added in the equipment area if you pick Ovechkin and go into his details on the Capitals roster.
Ovechkin revealed the mirrored visor that he wore his rookie season was his favorite when the Capitals conducted a poll on its Instagram in 2020.
“Tinted visor is just my style,” Ovechkin said in a Hockey News Q&A in December 2005. “I only wear it for that reason.”
However, the mirrored visor was gone a year later and Ovi then began wearing the tinted visor that is featured in option no. 2 above. Devils’ Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur complained that the visor gave Ovechkin a competitive advantage. Ovechkin was the only player who wore the mirrored visor at the time.
“I said it wasn’t right because my game is watching an athlete, and especially when it gets to a shootout, it makes it tougher for me if I can’t see his eyes,” Brodeur said to the Daily News.
Before the next season started, the league’s GMs voted against allowing the visor 29-1 with the Capitals’ George McPhee the lone dissenter. The NHL and NHLPA discussed Ovechkin’s mirrored visor in a June 2006 meeting (see the discussion here) but never made a rule to explicitly ban it.
That means there’s still a chance Ovechkin could wear it again someday.
Photo: @NHL/Twitter
