ARLINGTON, VA — The Washington Capitals know they’re in the twilight of the Alex Ovechkin era. After breaking the all-time goals record last spring, Ovechkin is now in the midst of his 21st NHL season at age 40.

Ovechkin’s contract is set to expire in July, but he’s so far been cagy about his plans beyond this season. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Capitals general manager Chris Patrick said he and Ovechkin haven’t talked much about when he expects to hang up his skates.

“Haven’t really had that conversation,” Patrick said. “We talked a little bit, just about where the team is and what he feels we need, and what I feel we need. But it didn’t really get too much into his future outside of this year.”

With Wayne Gretzky’s goal record now in the rearview, speculation about Ovechkin’s future has grown since last spring. Ovechkin has regularly deflected questions about his potential retirement in the months since he broke the record, saying he has yet to make a decision either way.

“I don’t know if it’s going to be last (season),” he said at training camp. “We’ll see.”

Although he hasn’t made a firm call on his future plans, Ovechkin has spent parts of this season taking walks down memory lane, participating in jersey exchanges with notable opponents like Evgeni Malkin, Brad Marchand, Anze Kopitar, Brady Tkachuk, and Connor McDavid.

The Capitals, for their part, have left the ball in Ovechkin’s court.

“I want him to have the space to have this season go how he wants it to go,” Patrick said in September. “And, you know, if he wants to talk, we’ll talk. If not, we’ll figure it out later.”

Ovechkin hasn’t reached the highs this season that he did during his chase of Gretzky’s record in 2024-25, but he’s remained one of the Capitals’ top scorers. He has 41 points (20g, 21a) in 28 games so far, becoming just the second player in NHL history to reach the 20-goal mark in 21 seasons earlier this month.

Ovechkin may have some big decisions in his future, but for now, at least, Patrick said he’s just thinking about the team in front of him.

“I would say his conversation with me, he seems very focused on the short term here and this team, trying to get into the playoffs and have another shot at winning the Stanley Cup,” Patrick said. “So you guys are going to continue to have to wait on [his decision].”