ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) \u2014 Alex Ovechkin said he wants a new two-year contract from the Washington Capitals.<\/p>\n
He was probably joking.<\/p>\n
Then again, nothing about Ovechkin\u2019s future is all that clear right now after the NHL\u2019s career goal-scoring leader finished his 21st season Tuesday. Fans \u2014 and even opponents \u2014 treated the past few games like they could be his last, but Ovechkin hasn\u2019t yet closed the door on returning.<\/p>\n
This was the final season of his current contract with the Capitals. When he noted Thursday \u2014 in a longer-than-usual session with reporters \u2014 that he still needs to speak with coach Spencer Carbery and general manager Chris Patrick, he was asked what he wanted to hear from Patrick about the team\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo more years,\u201d he said, drawing a laugh. \u201cThis is the contract. Sign it.\u201d<\/p>\n
It would certainly be a surprise if the 40-year-old Ovechkin received that kind of deal. The bigger question is whether he\u2019ll keep playing in the NHL at all. He said he\u2019ll make that decision based on health, family and the team\u2019s outlook for next season.<\/p>\n
The Capitals wrapped up their season with a win at Columbus on Tuesday. They had 95 points, which would have tied for the lead in the Pacific Division but left them three points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Young players like Ryan Leonard and Cole Hutson have emerged for Washington, and despite a disappointing season, the team seems decently positioned whether Ovechkin retires or comes back.<\/p>\n
If he does return, the price would be intriguing after he carried a cap hit of $9.5 million a year on his previous deal. He scored a team-high 32 goals and played all 82 games this season, remarkable numbers for a player his age. But his famous shot from the left circle wasn\u2019t the weapon it used to be \u2014 he had only five goals on 86 shots on the power play \u2014 and his age shows in his two-way game.<\/p>\n
Ovechkin was asked if playing elsewhere in the NHL was a possibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a free agent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When pressed on whether he could see himself somewhere else in the league after spending his whole career so far with the Capitals, he said: \u201cProbably not, no.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s been speculation about Ovechkin going back at some point to play in his native Russia, but he said he needs to decide his NHL future first.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty sure it\u2019s not my last game \u2014 I hope it\u2019s not my last game, against Columbus. I have to make a decision to see where we\u2019re at \u2014 the team, family,\u201d Ovechkin said. \u201cObviously, family are going to support me, like my wife and kids. Kids are already asking, \u2018Dad, are you staying or not?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
And what\u2019s his response?<\/p>\n
\u201cI tell them, \u2018We\u2019ll see,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201dThey want me to come back because they love the city, they love the team, they love the boys.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) \u2014 Alex Ovechkin said he wants a new two-year contract from the Washington Capitals. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5114],"tags":[191,5,4,190,109,5222],"class_list":{"0":"post-556444","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\/116434486158456153","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556444","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=556444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/556444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/556445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=556444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=556444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=556444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}