Alex Ovechkin now knows which team he’ll be playing for in this year’s Match of the Year on July 25.
After it was announced in May that Ovechkin would again participate in the annual charity game featuring Russian and Belarusian stars from both the NHL and KHL, the marquee summer event held a player draft earlier this week to determine the lineups for the teams of hosts Mikhail Sergachev and Artemi Panarin.
Unlike in past years, players from the two leagues won’t be playing exclusively against each other, as the draft format has mixed things up.
Ovechkin and his Washington Capitals teammate, Aliaksei Protas, both landed on Team Sergachev. Other notable names slated to play with them include Sergachev, New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin, and Columbus Blue Jackets winger Kirill Marchenko.
Some of the big names set to face off against Ovechkin and co. on Panarin’s team include New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin, San Jose Sharks defenseman Dmitry Orlov, and Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov.
Ovechkin also helped reveal the jerseys for the event, alongside Panarin, Sergachev, and general managers Ilya Kovalchuk and Sergei Fedorov. Ovi will be sporting a pink-and-purple design while Team Panarin dons turquoise and blue. Both jerseys have the Match of the Year logo on the front and are emblazoned with star patterns.
According to the event’s Instagram account, the designs are inspired by “the northern lights (aurora borealis) and scarlet sunsets of the northern capital (Saint Petersburg).”
This year’s event will take place outside of Moscow for the first time, hosted at the home rink of KHL club SKA Saint Petersburg, SKA Arena.
Ovechkin was super busy during last year’s game, first being honored for breaking the NHL goals record and being gifted a new car. He then scored a goal in the eventual 15-3 win for the NHL players, skating on his team’s first line with Panarin and Andrei Svechnikov. During the first intermission, he also impressively operated a mounted turret t-shirt cannon.
The game will be Ovechkin’s first public on-ice appearance since he committed to returning for his 22nd NHL season with the Capitals. The soon-to-be 41-year-old winger signed a one-year contract with the Caps earlier this month.
2026 Match of the Year rosters
Team Sergachev
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin (Washington Capitals)
Pavel Buchnevich (St. Louis Blues)
Vasily Podkolzin (Edmonton Oilers)
Vladimir Tkachev (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
Prokhor Poltapov (CSKA Moscow)
Artyom Galimov (Ak Bars Kazan)
Kirill Marchenko (Columbus Blue Jackets)
Konstantin Okulov (Avangard Omsk)
Nikolay Goldobin (SKA Saint Petersburg)
Mikhail Maltsev (Spartak Moscow)
Yegor Surin (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
Aliaksei Protas (Washington Capitals
Defensemen
Alexander Romanov (New York Islanders)
Ilya Lyubushkin (Nashville Predators)
Mikhail Sergachev (Utah Mammoth)
Dmitri Simashev (Utah Mammoth)
Ivan Provorov (Columbus Blue Jackets)
Daniil Pylenkov (Dynamo Moscow)
Grigori Dronov (Traktor Chelyabinsk)
Egor Yakovlev (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
Goaltenders
Ilya Sorokin (New York Islanders)
Yaroslav Askarov (San Jose Sharks)
Maxim Dorozhko (Amur Khabarovsk)
Team Panarin
Forwards
Artemi Panarin (Los Angeles Kings)
Matvei Michkov (Philadelphia Flyers)
Matvei Gridin (Calgary Flames)
Dmitrij Jaskin (Shanghai Dragons)
Kirill Kaprizov (Minnesota Wild)
Marat Khusnutdinov (Boston Bruins)
Maxim Shalunov (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
Maxim Tsyplakov (Calgary Flames)
Vadim Shipachyov (Salavat Yulaev)
Alexander Zharovsky (Salavat Yulaev)
Alexander Barabanov (Ak Bars Kazan)
Valeri Nichushkin (Columbus Blue Jackets)
Defensemen
Vladislav Gavrikov (New York Rangers)
Dmitry Orlov (San Jose Sharks)
Rushan Rafikov (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
Andrei Mironov (Spartak Moscow)
Alexander Nikishin (Carolina Hurricanes)
Pavel Mintyukov (Anaheim Ducks)
Shakir Mukhamadullin (Edmonton Oilers)
Nikita Lyamkin (Ak Bars Kazan)
Goaltenders
Igor Shesterkin (New York Rangers)
Sergei Bobrovsky (Toronto Maple Leafs)
Nikita Serebryakov (Avangard Omsk)
