ARLINGTON, VA — Just a day after turning 40, Alex Ovechkin was back on the ice Thursday for the 21st training camp of his NHL career. Few players have managed to stick around as long as Ovechkin has — he’ll be the third-oldest active player in the league this season — and even fewer have kept up his level of production while doing so, making him a rarity in a sport where he’s already proven exceptional.
Though he’s repeatedly played coy when asked about his future, Ovechkin is undoubtedly in the twilight years of his career, even if he opts to sign another deal in Washington when his contract expires this summer. But for those who have played alongside him, a Capitals team without Ovechkin on it is hard to imagine.
“I think he’s a guy that’s just a staple here. No one will really think about him not being around here until it smacks us all in the face,” Tom Wilson said Thursday. “He’s a guy that’s just a Capital. He comes to the rink every day and leads this group. He’s going to do that until he’s done. We won’t really focus too much on that. It’s just so fun having him around and seeing what he’s doing.”
Wilson, set to play in his 13th NHL season this year, already knew he wouldn’t match Ovechkin’s longevity. For all Ovechkin’s scoring talent has garnered acclaim over the years, Wilson wanted to draw attention to his consistency and resilience.
“Someone just asked me, ‘Did you ask him what it feels like to be 40?’ And I said, ‘I won’t need to ask him, because I won’t be playing hockey when I’m 40,’” Wilson said. “I’ll probably be standing up here and taking it in on Day 1 or something. It’s so impressive. I’m 31 and it’s hard. It takes a toll on the body. All of us, we just play as long as we can. He’s the GOAT.
“He can just keep playing and scoring goals. He’s still flying out there. It’s pretty darn impressive, just his mentality and his physical perseverance to keep going and doing what he’s doing, there’s really no words to describe it. I don’t think anybody in that room will be talking about playing when they are 40, let alone scoring 44 goals and the broken leg and all that stuff last year. He’s a machine.”
Ovechkin, however, told reporters he didn’t feel much of a difference after celebrating his 40th.
“Nothing changed,” he said. “Just different number.”
If you look just at his goal count, Ovechkin has largely escaped the grip of Father Time. He scored 44 times last season, good for third-best in the league, and likely would have notched his 10th 50-goal campaign were it not for a fractured fibula that sidelined him for 16 games.
Still, his age has begun to show in other areas of his game. His skating, which had already weakened over the back half of his career, has taken a further hit, and he’s regularly missed practices to rest between games. While he’s still listed as the team’s top-line left wing, he’s seen less ice time than many of his younger teammates. On Thursday, Ovechkin made it through less than a full practice on Thursday before leaving the ice with a suspected lower-body injury, though both he and head coach Spencer Carbery expressed little concern about his status.
Ovechkin also achieved arguably the crowning jewel of his career last season when he passed Wayne Gretzky for the all-time NHL goals record. After reaching a milestone decades in the making, few would have blamed him if he’d opted to call it quits after last season. Carbery, however, had little doubt that Ovechkin’s will to continue was as strong as ever.
“(He wants) to show up to the rink and get into the locker room with his buddies and it’s just — he loves the game,” Carbery said. “I know that his motivation level and his happiness on the ice and his desire to score a goal in the National Hockey League — I would bet dollars to donuts that the first goal he scores this year the reaction is going to be just like it has been his entire career.
“He loves the game, he loves to come to the rink, he loves to being around his teammates, he loves to go out and compete and try to win. He loves to score goals. So, I don’t think that will change one bit even though he’s passed Wayne and now has the all-time goal record. I think he’ll be as hungry as ever to get to 900 and then 910 and then try to help our team win games.”
Since making his Capitals debut in 2005, Ovechkin has become the face of DC hockey, as well as a pillar of his era in the NHL. He’s helped encourage thousands of people in the area to take up the sport, inspired a new generation of players now reaching the NHL themselves, and brought Washington its first Stanley Cup. Much of that impact will remain in his absence, but his retirement will mark the end of an era.
Not even Ovechkin’s longtime teammates are fully immune from his effect. John Carlson, who has played with Ovechkin for 16 seasons, couldn’t stop himself from reminiscing about his own draft day and all the memories that have come since.
“It’s been a hell of a ride,” he said. “I’m not going to get too nostalgic too early here on day one of camp… but, yeah, it’s been really cool, obviously, to play with one of the game’s greats and, obviously, now the leading goal scorer of all time.
“Those are all insane things that you can reflect on. From the day they called my name at the draft, that’s your first thought as a player, and certainly after the ride that was last year, pretty special times — and moments in between those two things.”
At this point, neither the Capitals nor Ovechkin are sure whether this season will be his last. Ovechkin has one season remaining on the five-year deal he signed in 2021, but he hasn’t closed the door on a potential return for 2025-26.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, general manager Chris Patrick put the ball in Ovechkin’s court as to his future, willing to discuss an extension if Ovechkin wanted to stay. In the meantime, knowledge of Ovechkin’s pending retirement — whenever it comes — lends extra meaning to the games he has left.
“I want him to have the space to have this season go how he wants it to go,” Patrick said. “If he wants to talk, we’ll talk. If not, we’ll figure it out later… He’s got a couple milestones coming up right away and it’ll be fun to see him hit those. And then I’m just at the point where every time I see him play, I’m just appreciative of it. He’s 40 years old. We’re not going to have this forever. To get to witness this every night, it’s a treat.”
