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Four days after opting to come back to the National Hockey League for a 22nd season, Alex Ovechkin said he feels like the current Washington Capitals roster is a Stanley Cup contender.
Speaking on Zoom with reporters from his vacation in Turkey, the Capitals captain certainly didn’t seem like he really was going to opt for retirement from the NHL this summer, even saying he and his wife Anastasia Shubskaya discussed a one- or two-year contract to return before signing the deal last Thursday.
Once he made the decision to come back, he also said it only took 10 minutes from when he called Capitals General Manager Chris Patrick and said he wanted to hammer out a new contract to getting the one-year deal worth $9 million total – with $4.75 million being an incentive clause for playing 10 games that would be pushed to next season. His cap hit for this upcoming season would be $4.25 million, fitting in Washington’s available space for next year, with a $1 million base salary and $3.25 million signing bonus.
With the Capitals’ offseason makeover nearly complete, Washington management certainly seems like they are making a run for another Stanley Cup before Ovechkin retires, be it this year or beyond.
Capitals owner Ted Leonsis commented during the press conference that this year felt empty without the postseason, and instead of watching his team play in the first round, instead be playing golf or going on vacation. After the makeover, he says this could be the deepest team Washington has had since Ovechkin arrived in the NHL in 2005.
Brian MacLellan, Washington’s President of Hockey Operations, said the team came into the offseason looking for a physical Top 6 forward, a defenseman with presence and veteran leadership, and certainly they even went beyond that with trading for Alex Tuch and Jordan Kyrou, then netting Vincent Desharnais and Boone Jenner in free agency to round out the team’s wish list.
While the team was passive last season, carrying the same wish list, they were anything but in June and early July, filling those needs and beyond in a few short weeks while they still weren’t 100 percent sure Ovechkin would return.
And, once the team fulfilled its wish list and made its moves on July 1, it didn’t take long for Ovechkin to opt back in for the new season.
The Capitals’ captain said he discussed a new contract with his wife, with his spouse greenlighting a one-year contract.
After a full year of wondering if it would be Ovechkin’s last season, there wasn’t a whole lot of clarity on if this upcoming one would be a farewell tour either. He certainly didn’t seem to put an expiration date on his NHL tenure, mentioning he had thought about a two-year deal as well, so it appears another year may go by without a definitive retirement announcement – at least for now.
For Washington, this is perhaps the deepest lineup they’ve had in the Ovechkin era, as while the teams of the late 2000s and mid-2010s are among the best in franchise history, this one seems a bit more balanced than the other lineups.
Certainly they still had a decent core last year, finishing with 95 points and probably in the playoffs under a normal NHL season, but adding two 30-goal scorers to the team’s major weakness, as well as shoring up the defense and depth, it’s a pretty safe assumption that, barring major injury or unexpected circumstances, this could be one of the most talented Capitals rosters assembled.
While that doesn’t always mean much – the 2016-17 team was the one that perhaps most fit that title before this one, and that team was ousted in the second round before winning it with a thinner roster next season – it certainly brings a lot of excitement for a 2025-26 season that was a letdown in many ways following the Gretzky chase and 50th anniversary campaign.
And certainly, Ovechkin was happy with the changes, and while he mentioned he was sorry to see Connor McMichael go, saying it was a business, he certainly didn’t take long to opt to come back for another season.
Will this one be his last? After hearing him talk about the chance to win and the quick decision to come back, it probably will depend on how he feels, his family’s feelings, how he does, and also how the team performs, as it seems he wants a chance to lift the Stanley Cup one more time before he heads back to the KHL whenever he makes his decision.
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