Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin has begun ramping up his offseason workout activities before his 19th career NHL season starts in the fall. Those activities have included an off-ice sweat session with regular trainer Pavel Burlachenko and good buddy and former Caps forward Dmitrij Jaskin on Tuesday.

Ovi previously stated in May, while attending a Gagarin Cup Final game, that he would start his training preparation in July. The Great Eight is getting some work in before he is expected to get back on the ice for some light game action in early August as he plans on playing in Danis Zaripov’s farewell game from the KHL.

Ak Bars, who is hosting Zaripov’s retirement match, reposted the workout photo on their own Instagram account to hype up the game. Ovi, Jaskin, and Pavel were joined by Jaskin’s KHL teammates Damir Zhafyarov and Slava Voynov. “Alexander Ovechkin is in good company preparing for the farewell match of Danis Zaripov,” the team wrote.

The game is scheduled for August 9 at Kazan’s Tatneft Arena. Ovechkin is expected to join a whole host of Russian stars including Caps teammate Evgeny Kuznetsov, Alexander Radulov, Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alex Semin, and Alexei Morozov among others. According to the team, more than 5,000 tickets sold in less than a day.

Zaripov, who has won the Gagarin Cup five separate times, will have his number 25 jersey retired by Ak Bars prior to the festivities. Ovechkin will play in the game before his usual late August-early September return to DC for the Caps’ preseason.

The Ovechkin family returned to Russia for the summer in late April just 10 days after the Capitals wrapped up their season.

So far, outside of general vacation time, Ovechkin has attended the KHL Awards Show and received a car, gone to a Dynamo Moscow soccer practice, played in a Dynamo Moscow alumni hockey tournament, and traveled to Turkey to see the UEFA Champions League Final between Manchester City and Inter Milan.

Headline photo: @jaaskhim26/Instagram