Photo: Dave Sandford

In an interview with SovSport on Saturday, Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin was asked straight up if he wanted to return to Russia next year. Ya know, to debunk the rumor once and for all so we could all move on. Instead, Ovechkin left the door open for a possible return and even sounded like he has put a lot of thought into the idea.

Sigh.

Sasha, the persistent rumor that you will return to the KHL in 2015 is around. Please debunk it or give hope to the fans.

Alex Ovechkin: We’ll see. There are a lot of nuances in this matter that need to be considered as well as potential obstacles.

Sounds vague.

AO: I’m telling you, to make a KHL return there should be more than just a player’s desire. All factors should come together for it to go through.

So the probability of the comeback exists? You didn’t say no…

AO: Of course it does. But how to do? It’s hard. I have a contract with Washington for six more years. All my thoughts now are about playing for the Capitals and compete for Stanley Cup.

We weighed in on the legal side of the potential return in 2013.

Here’s a few more snippets from the interview:

• Ovechkin learned that he’d participate in the Breakaway Challenge only on Saturday morning from Caps PR man Sergey Kocahrov.
• The Russian machine thinks Bobrovsky is the best goalie in the world.
• He says Evgeny Kuznetsov is now stronger physically and feels the game better.
• Ovechkin’s plan for the All-Star Game? “I score five [goals], get the keys from the car, and give them to Seryozha [Kocharov] and he drives Honda to DC.” Why him? “He said he needed a car.”
• Ovechkin’s favorite All-Star Game was in Montreal because there were a lot of Russian guys. Without them, “it’s a bit boring.”

Look at how captivating this… @Ovi8, get off your phone! pic.twitter.com/edz9j7xGyj

— RMNB (@russianmachine) January 25, 2015