![\"Washington](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2270603683.jpg\")
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Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin<\/p>\n
There isn\u2019t much Washington Capita<\/a>ls forward Alex Overchkin hasn\u2019t accomplished during his 21-year NHL career.<\/p>\n His trophy case includes the Calder (2006), given to the NHL\u2019s Rookie of the Year, an Art Ross (2008), given to the NHL\u2019s leading scorer each year, nine Rocket Richards, given to the league\u2019s leading goal scorer every year, three Hart Trophies, given to the league MVP, and a Conn Smythe, given to the MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n Ovechkin also has 13 All-Star Game appearances and three-time Ted Lindsay Awards, he was a two-time EA Sports \u201cNHL\u201d cover athlete and a one-time \u201cNHL 2K\u201d cover athlete, a member of the NHL 2000s and 2010s All-Decade first team, and he won a Stanley Cup in 2018.<\/p>\n Oh, and he also broke Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky\u2019s NHL record for most career goals (929). But with nothing left to prove, Ovechkin doesn\u2019t seem keen on walking away just yet, though.<\/p>\n Alex Ovechkin Hints at Retirement Plans GettyAlex Ovechkin hoists the Stanley Cup after the Washington Capitals won the 2018 Stanley Cup<\/p>\n The Capitals just missed out on a playoff spot by three points this season, and although their season is over, that doesn\u2019t mean Ovechkin\u2019s career is.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the 40-year-old Russian hinted that he plans to return for Year 22 next season.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be honest with you, I\u2019m pretty sure it\u2019s not my last game,\u201d Ovechkin stated. \u201cI hope it\u2019s not my last game, against Columbus. I have to make a decision to see where we\u2019re at. The team, family. The kids are already asking me, \u2018Dad, are you staying or no?\u2019 And I tell them, \u2018We\u2019ll see.\u2019 They want me to come back. They love the city, they love the team, they love the boys.\u201d<\/p>\n Retirement rumors have followed Ovechkin for a few seasons now, but he proved this year that he still has plenty left in the tank.<\/p>\n His 32 goals and 64 points led the Capitals, and he\u2019s now hit the 30-goal plateau in 20 of his 21 seasons. He\u2019s also topped the 80-point mark in 10 of 21 seasons.<\/p>\n Ovechkin\u2019s Contract Status<\/p>\n Set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, Ovechkin, a former No. 1 overall pick, is on the record stating he won\u2019t want to play for any other NHL team besides Washington.<\/p>\n Some have speculated he could return to Russia and play for the Moscow Dynamo in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) \u2014 a place where he\u2019s said previously he\u2019d like to play his final games as a pro.<\/p>\n But for now, it seems likely that Ovechkin reaches a new short-term deal with the Capitals for one or two seasons before he returns to his homeland to finish up his career in the very place that ti started.<\/p>\n \u201cI never could even come close to wrapping my head around what he\u2019s done over the last three years,\u201d Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery said. \u201cHe did so many things to defy odds at his age. And then getting to know him as a person. How infectious his personality and enthusiasm every day at the rink is. If this ends up being his last year, that\u2019s what I\u2019ll carry with me for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMichael Gallagher<\/a> Michael Gallagher is a sports journalist covering the NFL for Heavy.com. He has more than a decade of experience working for both local and national news outlets covering the NFL, NHL, NBA, WNBA, college football, and MMA. His work has been featured in Newsweek, Yahoo Sports, Fox Sports, Athlon Sports, The Hockey News, the Nashville Scene, SB Nation, and Yardbarker. More about Michael Gallagher<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Capitals\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin There isn\u2019t much Washington Capitals forward Alex Overchkin hasn\u2019t accomplished during his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554677,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5114],"tags":[191,5,4,190,109,5222],"class_list":{"0":"post-554676","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-capitals","8":"tag-capitals","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-washington","12":"tag-washington-capitals","13":"tag-washingtoncapitals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116421239466949912","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554676"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554676\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Washington](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776447043_886_ovechkin.jpg\")
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