Over the next 6 months, 32 arenas will say farewell to the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer. Just 6 games into the new season, the first of those farewell games will begin in Raleigh on Tuesday. Only eight days after Washington Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin announced this would be his last season in the NHL, he will play his last scheduled regular-season game in Carolina, having already visited Lenovo Center for the team’s season-opening game on Oct. 2.
The arena is where Ovechkin was selected first overall by the Washington Capitals in the 2004 NHL Draft, and while there is a real possibility the Capitals could be returning to North Carolina in the postseason with both teams expected to finish near the top of the Metropolitan Division, it officially will be the first of 32 final visits this season across 39 road games remaining for Washington, plus the team’s final regular-season home game in April.
The visit is the first of two farewell stops this month, with two more in November before the last stops pick up with a trip through the Western Conference in December. Washington’s last visit to a Western Conference opponent is in Chicago March 10, the last visit to Canada is in Ottawa on April 8 – the same site as Wayne Gretzky’s final NHL game in Canada – and the regular-season ends April 10 in Philadelphia.
A look ahead at the “goodbye tour”
In terms of potential handshakes, as Ovechkin helped initiate with Anze Kopitar and Marc-Andre Fleury’s retirements, Washington’s first completed series will be on Dec. 7 in Vancouver, as they are scheduled to play in Washington the week before.
Ovechkin comes off his first goal of the season against the Seattle Kraken Sunday, but he was not in a celebrating mood afterwards after a 5-3 loss dropped the Capitals to 3-2 on the young season. Washington is 1-1 on the road so far this season, with the win coming in that game in Raleigh – the Hurricanes’ lone regulation loss in seven games this season.
Raleigh is where Ovechkin appeared in the 2011 NHL All-Star Game where he scored a goal and also was penalized for the event’s first-ever penalty shot by throwing his stick during a Matt Duchene break, and also the site of Ovechkin’s 892nd career goal in April 2025, and as of now, his last playoff goal in Game 4 of the 2025 second-round series loss to the Hurricanes. Ovechkin also picked up an assist in Washington’s first visit to Carolina this season, and has 25 goals total in the venue heading into his final regular-season stop, his last coming 11 months ago in the Capitals’ only appearance in Raleigh.
Capitals beating other Metro teams
The Capitals are 3-0 against divisional opponents this season, but 0-2 against everyone else.
Carolina handed the Flyers a loss Sunday, giving the Hurricanes a five-game win streak since their setback to the Caps earlier this month.
Washington will be without center Pierre-Luc Dubois, who will not make the trip to Raleigh with an illness, and defenseman Justin Holl was recalled from Hershey on Monday with Matt Roy still out with an injury suffered in the team’s second game of the season.
Following the one-game trip south, Washington returns home for a five-game homestand, beginning Wednesday night against the Montreal Canadiens. The Capitals’ next road game will be another farewell game, this time to Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Oct. 29 – and one that is likely to be the last time he skates in Tennessee barring both teams reaching the Stanley Cup Final.
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