Alex Ovechkin lastly answered the query everybody across the Washington Capitals has been asking.
Kind of.
Ovechkin introduced Monday that the 2026-27 season can be his closing 12 months within the NHL. The Capitals instantly began preparing for what is going to undoubtedly grow to be an 82-game farewell tour for the best objective scorer in league historical past.
Simply do not confuse Ovechkin leaving the NHL with Ovechkin essentially leaving hockey.
Alex Ovechkin has already hinted at what comes subsequent
The wording of Monday’s announcement is value being attentive to.
“My household and I made a decision this summer season that this can be my closing 12 months within the NHL,” Ovechkin stated in an announcement launched by the Capitals.
Not his closing 12 months taking part in hockey. His closing 12 months within the NHL.
That distinction turns into significantly extra fascinating when contemplating what Ovechkin stated over the summer season.
In July, Ovechkin stated that his closing hockey recreation could be performed for Dynamo Moscow, the group the place his skilled profession started earlier than he joined the Capitals in 2005. He additionally returned to Dynamo in the course of the 2012-13 NHL lockout.
Out of the blue, Monday’s wording does not look unintentional.
Dynamo is not precisely hiding its curiosity, both. CEO Anatoly Kharchuk stated in August that the KHL membership would primarily construct round Ovechkin if he determined to return, fairly than treating him as a ceremonial addition on the finish of his profession.
Ovechkin has by no means introduced that he’ll play a full KHL season after leaving Washington. There is a vital distinction between saying the place he desires to play his closing recreation and committing to a different season.
Nonetheless, the door is clearly open.
Alex Ovechkin’s NHL goodbye won’t be his hockey goodbye
Ovechkin turns 42 subsequent September, so no one ought to count on one other prolonged chapter.
However he is not limping towards retirement, both.
He scored 32 targets and 64 factors whereas taking part in all 82 video games last season. Washington introduced him again on a one-year deal this summer season, and Ovechkin stated the Capitals’ aggressive roster additions helped persuade him they nonetheless had a possibility to compete for one more Stanley Cup.
Now everybody is aware of precisely when his NHL profession will finish.
What occurs after that is still significantly much less sure.
Perhaps Ovechkin finishes this season, takes off his Capitals sweater for the ultimate time and decides 22 NHL seasons had been sufficient.
Or maybe the NHL’s all-time main objective scorer has one closing chapter ready the place all the pieces began.
Both means, Monday’s announcement closed the e book on Ovechkin’s NHL future.
It did not essentially shut the e book on Ovechkin.
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