Alex Ovechkin still intends to play in the Olympic Games for Russia next year regardless of the NHL's announcement that it was pulling the plug.

"Yeah, I didn't change my mind and I won't," the Washington Capitals superstar captain told a huge media scrum after the morning skate at Air Canada Centre.

"Because it's my country," Ovechkin added. "I think everybody wants to play there. It's the biggest opportunity in your life to play in the Olympic Games. So, I don't know, somebody [is] going to tell me 'don't go,' I don't care, I just go."