The Bottom Line: Clarifying The Alex Ovechkin Situation & His Future Beyond Next Year
The Capitals captain's future has been up in the air over the course of the week.
It hasn’t been an easy week for the Washington Capitals and Alex Ovechkin.
After an error in a corporate sales email referred to this upcoming season being Ovechkin’s last for the Washington Capitals, speculation has continued to brew regarding when he will call it a career, and if 2025-26 is really the last we’ll see of the Great 8 in D.C.
Then, on Friday, Russian outlet Arguments & Facts sat down for an interview with Ovechkin’s wife, Nastya, who mentioned that after Ovechkin plays next season, they will return to Russia and stay.
This has been picked up and translated by other outlets, who take it as confirmation that this will be Ovechkin’s farewell tour.
Let’s pump the brakes, though.
First, Ovechkin himself hasn’t outwardly committed to anything beyond the 2025-26 season. He’s expressed in the past that he will finish his playing days in the KHL with his original team, Dynamo Moscow, but when it comes to what happens after his deal with the Capitals expires, he hasn’t confirmed anything.
"I haven't thought about it yet, but we'll see what's going to happen," Ovechkin said on media breakdown day a couple of weeks ago. "I'm going to try to do my best to be able to do well next year, and we'll see."
Plus, it’s possible that Nastya’s words were misinterpreted or taken out of context, and the Capitals also confirmed after that email was sent out that neither the team nor Ovechkin have made any decision regarding the future.
Of course, we can look at different factors and understand that he is in the final part of his career, and that the Ovechkin era is winding down. He’ll be 40 in September and is “aware” of where he is at given his age. He’s done what he’s hoped, breaking the NHL’s all-time goals record and winning a Stanley Cup, and now, can just focus on playing.
Still, he loves coming to the rink every day and being around the team. He’s expressed to me and to others that as long as he loves it, he’ll look to stick around for as long as he can.
Even management is remaining “open to all possibilities” and isn’t ruling anything out when it comes to what’s next for Ovechkin.
That being said, anything can happen, and decisions change all the time. But ultimately, Ovechkin has earned the respect to announce that news himself.
He’s given 20-plus years to Washington, and has a family and other circumstances to consider when it comes to his future. The captain should get all of the time to consider his options, and when that news comes, it will come from him and the organization when both sides are ready.
Right now, though, the speculation and noise aren’t fair. Trust the process.
I don’t know enough about the collective bargaining agreement to know what’s possible, but Ovi playing in DC at age 41 and beyond only works for me if it’s at a (much?) lower cap hit than the $9.5 million he’ll make next season.
I’m thinking of the baseball equivalent where vets on the downsides of their careers sign one year deals for relatively little money after their previous multi-year big dollar deals expire.