Alex Ovechkin seems to defy Father Time. He’s human, however. The Washington Capitals captain hits a big milestone Wednesday when he turns 40.
Ovechkin’s birth date (September 17, 1985 ) was a discussion topic even before Washington drafted him in 2004. The previous year, the Florida Panthers tried twice to draft to Draft him. Their argument: The NHL has a Sept. 15 eligibility cutoff for players’ 18th birthdays. However, if one deducted Feb. 29 during Leap Years, the player would meet the cutoff just under the wire.
Gary Bettman basically said, nice try but no. The Panthers tried again to argue for Draft eligibility. They used math to count up elapsed days from Ovechkin’s birth until his 18th birthday. Once again, the NHL rejected the argument.
One year later, the Caps won the Draft Lottery. Washington took Ovechkin with the first overall pick of the 2004 Draft. However, due the 2004-05 lockout that canceled entire season, he wouldn’t play in the NHL until the League returned for 2005-06.
Ovechkin has aged like a fine wine
On his 40th birthday, Ovechkin enters Capitals camp as the NHL’s all-time leading goal score. He’s kept up a heretofore unseen pace, notching 897 regular-season tallies. Last year, he scored 44 goals despite missing 16 games due to a broken leg in November.
With one year left on his five-year, $47.5 million contract with a $9.5 million cap hit this season, Ovechkin will become an unrestricted free agent next summer, the question isn’t really which team would sign him, it’s what league he would play in.
Even early in his NHL career, Ovechkin has talked about finishing his career in Russia, and his KHL destination almost assuredly would be Dynamo Moscow whenever he decides to leave North America. If Ovechkin opts to remain in the NHL at least one more season, it’s hard to fathom him wearing the uniform of any other club, as he leads Steve Yzerman by 205 goals of any player who played a career entirely for one franchise. And, incidentally, Yzerman retired at age 40 after Ovechkin’s rookie season of 2005-06.
Of course, Ovechkin not only has been a huge part of the Capitals on the ice, but also off the ice. His jersey was near the top of league in sales last year as he broke Wayne Gretzky’s record, and Washington has regularly sold out Capital One Arena since 2009 thanks to his presence. The team which struggled to draw heading into the rebuild before the 2004 lockout remains one of the NHL’s tougher tickets, and the Russian arguably will go down as one of the greatest professional athletes to play in the city.
Ovechkin stayed active
Ovechkin also made the most of his off-season, cashing in on his fame in his native country, reportedly signing nearly $40 million in endorsements in his native country this summer, according to Russian news outlet SHOT – in addition to his existing deals in North America.
Since coming to Washington, he will have earned around $175 million in salary over his NHL three contracts, and certainly Washington’s reward has been one of the league’s most marketable stars that also made the franchise a hot ticket during his tenure in the nation’s capital.
Part of Ovechkin’s equation on how much longer he will be in North America is how productive he still is at the NHL level, as certainly he likely will remain in the league as long as he still is effective. He did show wear and tear last season by the second-round playoff loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in May, so it figures that he may have his minutes managed more by coach Spencer Carbery this season with the goal-scoring record now in hand and with this season perhaps being his last shot at a second Stanley Cup title.
Of the other top scorers in NHL history after turning 40, Gordie Howe scored 113 goals at the NHL level with 44 goals in his 40-year-old campaign of 1968-89, a mark Ovechkin matched last season as most for a player over 39 – and Howe also scored 174 more in his World Hockey Association seasons with Houston and New England. Former Capital Jaromir Jagr scored 107 goals playing til age 45, hitting the 20-goal mark twice as a 40-year old in 2013-14 with New Jersey and 2015-16 with Florida. Brett Hull skated in five games after turning 40, but without a goal, and Wayne Gretzky had hung up his skates before turning 40.
One of Ovechkin’s strengths as a goal scorer is he hasn’t really dropped off due to age, adapting his game to a more shot-based production rather than his speed and strength that he relied on early in his career. He still hasn’t scored less than 30 goals in a full NHL season since 2016-17, and scored at a 44-goal pace in the COVID-shortened season in 2020-21 with 24 in 45 games. He was at nearly a 56-goal pace last year, despite missing 16 games due to his leg injury and one maintenance day.
Ovechkin’s excellence in his 30s
Ovechkin is the NHL’s all-time goals leader after turning 30 with 422 – seven more than Howe – and also is the league’s all-time leader in goals-per-game after turning 35, with 0.56 per game and with 191 tallies, outpacing Frank Mahovlich (0.48), Maurice Richard (0.46), Mario Lemieux (0.45) and Sidney Crosby (0.44).
Certainly his production seems poised to dip in the coming season, but Ovechkin is still a critical part of Washington’s power play and figures to surpass the 900-goal mark in October if he stays healthy and probably will net between 30 and 40 goals this season even with some reduced ice time. He still is the Capitals’ top goal-scoring threat, scoring 11 more than the second-leading goal-scorer on the team in Tom Wilson, who played all but one game of the 82-game slate last season.
Just in case Ovechkin does hang them up, the NHL and the Capitals seem to be pondering a potential farewell. Washington’s last five regular-season games are slated to be broadcast on national television, and the Capitals lead the league with 18 games being shown on U.S. national broadcasts, while every preseason and regular-season game will be broadcast locally or available nationally. The Capitals also took the unusual step in offering season-ticket holders printed tickets for the upcoming season, just in case they become keepsakes of a final farewell.
What comes next?
Nothing has been made official with Ovechkin’s future either way despite numerous rumors, and while it is possible Ovechkin could be entering his final NHL training camp, it seems unlikely he would skate away entirely if he was still productive and happy with his role on the team, and the team had a legitimate shot at another Stanley Cup.
If his production drops or the team suffers a downward turn after a surprising 111-point season, or if he is unhappy with his role on the ice, it’s easier to see him leaving for the KHL, but a competitive season probably means a short-term deal to remain at least one more season.
Certainly an ageless wonder despite the gray hair and beard, Ovechkin enters his 40-year-old season without fans knowing how many more encores he has to give before leaving Washington for good.
