One of the minor storylines throughout the 2025-26 season for the Washington Capitals surrounded the deployment of captain Alex Ovechkin. Up until the 73rd game of the campaign, the 40-year-old winger had yet to start a single shift in the defensive zone.
In that 73rd game, against the Utah Mammoth, head coach Spencer Carbery finally gave Ovechkin not one but two defensive-zone starts. He’d ultimately finish the year with six total. Given the length of time Ovechkin went without starting in his own end, Carbery was recently asked on The FAN Hockey Show what went into the decision to finally reverse that course.
“You know why? Because exactly what you’re talking about, it became a story,” Carbery said. “Honestly, I could have started him plenty of times in the defensive zone. This is the way I look at it: in a game and in my job as the head coach, trying to set him up for success is about putting him in positions to be successful from a deployment standpoint. So, yeah, he could have started a hundred draws in the defensive zone, but when I look at it, I would go, ‘Okay, well, let’s keep you off in this situation here, and now let’s give you another O-zone start.’
“He starts more in the offensive zone than anybody, and that’s purposeful. That’s because no one can shoot it in the back of the net when he’s starting from a draw 25 feet from the net (like Ovechkin). That’s how we deploy him, and that’s how I have to sort of strategize and best utilize him at 40 years old, and what helps him be successful on a nightly basis.”
Ovechkin was also hot as a pistol in the game against the Mammoth, which likely helped his cause further. In Washington’s 7-4 win, he scored his 34th career hat trick against an NHL record 21st different team.
Alex Ovechkin starts two shifts in defensive zone against Mammoth
“Yeah, and it wasn’t a big deal through, you know, 50 (games),” Carbery said. “I didn’t hear one word about it. And then as it started to gain a little bit of traction, I said, ‘Okay, well, we’ve got to put this to bed so this doesn’t become a bigger thing than it is.'”
The strategy to help protect the team’s legendary winger and make the most of his still-elite offensive ability proved successful. With Ovechkin on the ice at five-on-five this past season, the Capitals saw 50.3 percent of the shot attempts, 50.7 percent of the expected goals, and outscored their opposition 50-40.
At five-on-five, Ovechkin finished the year with six starts in the defensive zone, 198 in the neutral zone, and 305 in the offensive zone. Only one other player in the NHL saw 300 offensive-zone starts, and that was superstar center Nathan MacKinnon (303) of the Colorado Avalanche.
With Ovechkin possibly set to return for his 22nd season in the NHL next year, Carbery will be tasked with finding more clever ways to set both Ovechkin and the Capitals up for success.
