The Washington Capitals could be playing their final game with legendary captain Alex Ovechkin on Tuesday night. While the occasion has obvious significance to fans and reporters, the Capitals seem to be treating the now-stakes-less matchup with the Columbus Blue Jackets like any other game.
Ovechkin jumped on the ice for the club’s morning skate with little fanfare, and Caps head coach Spencer Carbery confirmed he will play in his 82nd game of the 2025-26 season. After the short practice, Ovechkin’s linemate, Dylan Strome, was asked if the team was placing any additional importance on the night, given the uncertainty of Ovechkin’s future.
“Yeah, I think just, you know, if he doesn’t want to talk about it, we’re not going to bring it up to him,” Strome said. “I think, at the end of the day, he’s going to make a decision, like he said, in the summer, and we’re going to be there to support him, whatever that may be. So just treat this like any other game, and we’re going to try to have fun, and I think that’s the way we’re looking at it.”
Ovechkin announced last week that he will wait until the offseason to decide if he’ll retire, still uncertain about whether he wants to come back for another year. The 40-year-old winger means the world to his teammates, and they’ve been bombarded with questions about his Hockey Hall of Fame career potentially coming to an end.
“Honestly, guys, I have no clue, and I spend a lot of time with him,” Tom Wilson told TSN 1050 on Tuesday. “I don’t know if he really knows. He’s a larger-than-life guy. I think at this point, he’s such a legend of the game, whatever he wants to do and however he wants it to end, he’s earned that right.
“I’ve had such a blast. I’ve always said I hope he plays forever. I love being his teammate. He’s still got it. He still scored 30 goals, he’s leading the way, he’s crushing guys, and he’s running over guys every night. Who knows? He plays the game extremely hard. He’s 41-years-old next season. It’s been a heck of a career for him.”
If it is truly the end, Ovechkin will go out of the NHL just as he came in: playing the Blue Jackets. Just this time it will be the 1,573rd game of his storied career, where he could possibly score his 930th career goal instead of his very first.
