June 26, 2004, will forever be an important day in Washington Capitals history.
Twenty-one years to the day, the Caps selected Alexander Ovechkin No. 1 overall at the 2004 NHL Draft (after the Florida Panthers tried to pick him illegally a year before). The pick altered the franchise’s direction forever.
The entry draft, held at the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC, was attended by a Capitals delegation that included general manager George McPhee, owner Ted Leonsis, and Ross Mahoney. Ovechkin was joined in the stands by his mother Tatyana, father Mikhail, and brother as he awaited the pick.
Once McPhee made the pick, a fully-tooth’d Ovi hugged his family and made his way over to the stage where he was presented a black Capitals jersey featuring the team’s old Capitol Dome logo and took photos.
Then TSN analyst Pierre McGuire described Ovechkin as a player who had “tremendous escapability,” “explosive speed,” and was “so sound defensively.” McGuire continued that other young prospects don’t have Ovi’s “defensive awareness.” Nailed it.
Now, 20 seasons and 897 goals scored later, Ovechkin is the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer, a Stanley Cup champion, and securely on the DC Sports’ Mount Rushmore.
Just as children love to hear The Night Before Christmas each year, the story of Ovechkin’s selection bears repeating too.
After enduring the franchise’s worst season in 26 years, the Capitals had their luck finally change as they jumped over rival Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks to claim the top spot in the draft lottery.
At the time, the draft lottery wasn’t the over-hyped televised spectacle the league has turned it into in recent years. No general managers awkwardly sitting and looking like contestants on Matchmaker while they’re eliminated one-by-one as the draft order is revealed.
In fact, then-Capitals GM George McPhee found out the Capitals won the No. 1 pick from Colin Campbell, the NHL’s then Senior Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations.
“I was at the practice facility at Piney Orchard,” McPhee recounted to Capitals Radio in 2022. “Colin Campbell called. He didn’t tell me right away but I had a feeling that he was calling me for a reason. We were talking socially for about five or six minutes. Then he went, ‘Oh by the way you won the lottery.’”
Believe it or not, he and the folks in the front office had to think hard about the choice between selecting Ovechkin or fellow Russian Evgeni Malkin, eventually selected by the Penguins at No. 2 overall.
“On our list, we had Ovechkin and Malkin there,” McPhee continued. “I called Ross Mahoney right after the call from Collie to tell him that we won the lottery… We discussed it more, and then obviously in a lot of detail in the next coming three or four weeks because Malkin is a hell of a player. We just thought the combination of goals and physical play and enthusiasm that Ovechkin brings, he had to be the guy.”
That was clearly the right choice (no shade on Malkin despite the team he plays for). Ovechkin has his comrade beat by 383 career goals and 277 points but, of course, Pittsburgh can continually laud the fact that it’s won three Stanley Cups with Geno on their roster.
Nevertheless, Ovechkin’s contributions to the sport and the city will forever leave their mark. He now enters the final year of his contract with Washington, on the cusp of eclipsing 900 career goals which would be an NHL first, and seeking another Stanley Cup before ultimately deciding whether to hang up his skates in North America.
