![\"Reddit](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/121547122.jpg\" "\\"Alex")
Alex Ovechkin (via Getty Images) The news of Alex Ovechkin’s probable departure for Russia following the 2024\u201325 NHL season wasn’t made in a presser or team announcement \u2014 it was revealed through an offhand interview with his wife, Anastasia Shubskaya, in which she mentioned the family would return to Moscow when his contract with the Washington Capitals ended. Fans on Reddit, as well as critics, turned to their keyboards once this news was revealed. <\/p>\n
Fans react after Washington Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin wife Anastasia Shubskaya confirms the Russia move <\/p>\n
The hockey world was quick to respond to Anastasia Shubskaya’s comment: \u201cAlexander still has a contract for a year. So we will play the next season and then fly back to live in Moscow, our homeland. We will stay in Russia, yes.\u201dBut Reddit’s hockey community, specifically on r\/hockey, was already far ahead of the news\u2014 and had no lack of opinions. \u201cIt\u2019s weird this is so discussed. He\u2019s been very vocal about wanting to bookend his career by finishing in Russia, like so many Russian greats do. He\u2019s also going to be 40, and he\u2019ll have nothing left to accomplish in the NHL,\u201d one user posed. Someone replied, \u201cYeah, I saw him say this verbatim in an interview a few years ago: play until he’s 40 in DC, then go back to Russia for one last season with Dynamo Moscow, then retire.\u201dOther users joked about the media hysteria: \u201cSo\u2026 exactly what Ovi said earlier in the season. Why is this a story?\u201dOthers theorized that the Washington Capitals are deliberately waiting until later to make an official statement so they can give Alex Ovechkin the sendoff he deserves.\u201cYes, everyone knows this. The Caps and Ovi just don’t want some lame STH email to be the announcement,” one user wrote. \u201cI’m sure the Caps and Ovi are planning an announcement to come either late this summer or early in the season.\u201dBut not all of the comments were hockey-related. Reddit forums also took a sharp detour into geopolitics, as Alex Ovechkin’s public display of affection for Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/a> once again came up for discussion.\u201cIs it really that clear? Yeah, sure, he has Putin in his Instagram profile picture, but that could mean anything (\/s),\u201d one commenter noted, which brought forth a tempest of responses. \u201cThe sooner he goes back, the better. Celebrating Putin\u2019s puppet makes no sense,\u201d another wrote. \u201cYup. But people who brush off Ovi supporting Putin as a simple matter of ideological alignment are just plain ignorant of geopolitics and the monster that Putin really is. It’s much more than \u2018It doesn’t matter who he voted for; he’s a great hockey player\u2019,\u201d another replied. Even with the split opinions, what is certain is that Ovechkin’s departure, whenever and however it is officially announced, will not be easy or politics-free. His record \u2014 as the NHL’s second-best goal scorer in history and a former Stanley Cup champion \u2014 is solidly established, but his persona off the ice is still divisive. <\/p>\n Alex Ovechkin’s goodbye will be memorable \u2014 and anything but controversy-free <\/p>\n