Capitals majority owner Ted Leonsis spoke to the media on Friday morning and one of the biggest topics of the conversation was negotiations on Alex Ovechkin’s new contract.
After Brian MacLellan set expectations that a deal could be done as early as training camp, there seemingly has been no news.
Leonsis is not worried though.
“I’m not concerned. He’s not concerned. Our concern is the Boston Bruins,” Leonsis said according to the Washington Post’s Samantha Pell. “Alex has been around a long, long time & has a lot of trust and confidence in us & knows the most important thing right now is to focus on the playoffs.”
Leonsis then made this pitch for the Capitals’ captain to re-sign per The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bshir.
“Alex knows that if he plays five more years, 10 more years, whatever it is, we’ve got his back,” Leonsis said. “Our commitment to him is to continue to have great teams. We’ll spend to the cap, we’ll try to win championships. And that’s what he’s focused on because that will be his legacy.”
Ovechkin’s 13-year, $124 million contract will end after this season, and while a new deal is a high priority, the two parties appear, at least from the outside, to have not made much progress.
The timeline of communications is:
- August 2020: Ovechkin and the Capitals decide to table talks until training camp.
- September 2020: A Russian website claims the Capitals offered Ovechkin a three-to five-year contract extension worth around $10 million per season.
- December 2020: Negotiations are “status quo”
- January 2021: Ovechkin said they have plenty of time to negotiate a new deal.
- January 2021: Ovechkin on if he’s had any negotiations on a contract extension with Brian MacLellan: “We just say hi and that’s it.”
- March 2021: Ovechkin and the Capitals table negotiations until April. Bob McKenzie seemingly communicates a team-friendly message that Ovi should take less money or it will hurt the team.
- March 2021 cont’d: Brian MacLellan said they will get a contract done with Ovechkin “at some point.”
- April 2021: Ovechkin said “we’ll see” while talking his contract extension during an appearance on 106.7 The Fan’s Grant & Danny.
Which brings us to today: the team is focusing on the playoffs.
“With Alex, it’s why I’ll never take him for granted, I’ll never take our relationship for granted, I beg the fan base not to take Alex Ovechkin for granted,” Leonsis said. “We’ve won a Stanley Cup, we want to win more Stanley Cups. We’ve built DC into a hockey town.
“Alex buying into a women’s soccer team, to me, was just a natural organic expression of him saying, ‘I love Washington DC and I love this community… Alex is happy.”
The Capitals start their first-round series against the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
