NHL’s stars, Alexander Ovechkin, is launching an NFT

One of the NHL’s greatest stars, Alexander Ovechkin, is launching a NFT collection.

The long-lasting Washington Capitals captain marked a five-year, $47.5 million contract on Tuesday to stay with the Caps until he arrives at age 40. The Russian superstar was motivated by other significant athletes who have fiddled with the digital collectible space.

“I first talk about it with my team after some of the NFL guys did it, and I think it’s cool idea and wanted to try it,” Ovechkin told ESPN through Ethernity, the company that is releasing the Ovechkin NFTs. “It’s a huge opportunity for players to try something different and the fans love it, so why not!?”

However some marquee athlete NFT drops have produced millions, like Rob Gronkowski ($1.8 million) and Patrick Mahomes ($3.4 million), hockey-related NFT drops have regularly seen five-to six-figure returns.

Back in March, Calgary Flames winger Matthew Tkachuk was the main NHL player to deliver a NFT, which sold for $27,954. One of the rising whizzes in the game, Toronto Maple Leafs objective scoring champ Auston Matthews, delivered NFTs in April that produced near $200,000, with a segment of the returns going to good cause.

Ovechkin says he likes the resilience of an digital collectible.

“I think digital collection is kind of cool. For lots of years I sign and take pictures with fans, and when I understand the digital art can last forever, I think fans would really like it.”

Ovechkin was hands on during the creative process of making the NFT plan, and needed something that “fans will be like, ‘Wow — how did they do that?'”

The NFT is a cooperation between Ovechkin, Ethernity and Impossible Brief, who chipped away at the imaginative NFT concepts for Mahomes and San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr.

“Ovechkin is one of the greatest players of all time, and we are excited to bring this coveted one-of-a-kind experience to collectors worldwide.” said Ethernity CEO Nick Rose.

However it has apparently cooled of late when contrasted with a while back, the NFT space is as yet producing a ton of interest from athletes and leagues in sports. The NHL, just as other significant sports leagues, have been exploring the NFT space, especially subsequent to seeing the accomplishment of NBA Top Shot. Numerous NHL groups around the association are following after accordingly – some have effectively led drops, for example, the New Jersey Devils, Florida Panthers, and Ovechkin’s Capitals. Covers proprietor Ted Leonsis said in March with respect to cryptocurrencies forms of money and NFTs: “This is like the birth of a new internet. … This is that significant.”

Ovechkin wouldn’t affirm that more NFT drops would come past this one, yet the accomplishment of this drop will influence whether he chooses to make more. When inquired as to whether he would make a NFT in the event that he broke Wayne Gretzky’s objective scoring record – Ovi is at present at 730 vocation NHL objectives, 6th on the unsurpassed rundown, while Gretzky drives the rundown with 894 – Ovechkin snickered and said, “We will see if that is going to happen in the future!”

Ovechkin feels that a lot more NHL players, at various times, will be keen on launching NFTs. “I think lots of players are going to try to do NFT. Maybe I will do one with Backy (Capitals teammate Nicklas Backstrom), and from the history, maybe Wayne Gretzky or Maurice Richard.”

Ovechkin’s NFT drop will occur on Aug. 8 at 1 p.m. ET at ethernity.io. The bartering will be accessible for 72 hours.