Alex Ovechkin wasn’t sure this chapter would continue.
After an emotional 2024-25 season that ended with the Washington Capitals captain saying goodbye to longtime teammate John Carlson and watching the team fall just short of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Ovechkin spent the summer weighing whether to come back for another year. He had the health.
He still had the appetite for the game. But at 41, he also knew the burden of another season would reach far beyond the physical grind.
"I'm going to be 41 years old," Ovechkin said. "I have lots of pressures on my shoulders through all the years."
In the end, the decision came back to the people closest to him.
Ovechkin said the questions weren’t coming only from the outside. His kids, his wife and the rest of his family wanted to know whether he’d return. Once he saw what Washington added this summer and got the green light from his wife, Nastya, he decided to give it another run.
"Obviously, family is first thing in our lives," Ovechkin said, adding, "When you can see we have that type of team, what we have to win one more time Stanley Cup, it's one of the big reasons. My wife tell me, 'Let's go, one more.'"
The reaction to his decision clearly mattered to him, too.
"It was very emotional moment for me... it means a lot that people want me coming back, people want to see me," Ovechkin said. "It was very emotional and that's very important for me as well."
There’s also the roster itself. General manager Chris Patrick had a busy offseason, and the Capitals added Jordan Kyrou, Alex Tuch, Boone Jenner and Vincent Desharnais. That mattered to Ovechkin, who sees a team built to contend.
"When you look at our roster, it's Stanley Cup contender... I know I can still play and bring energy to the locker room, energy on the ice and give what I can give," Ovechkin said.
For now, he’s staying active while away from the rink. Ovechkin is vacationing in Turkey, where he’s also working out in the gym and playing beach volleyball. After that, he’ll head back to Moscow to start skating and training with longtime trainer Pavel Burlachenko as he gets ready for the new season.
What happens after this year is still up in the air. Ovechkin didn’t say whether 2026-27 would be his last stop.
But he does know he’s not done yet. He says he’s comfortable with the pressure, more experienced now than he was when he was younger, and focused on what he can control.
Well, it's a total different thing when you're young and when you 22 or 23, you (feel) every pressure in a different way. Right now, I'm experienced about it, and I know how to handle it," Ovechkin said. "I'm not worried about what people gonna say, what people gonna write, because I know myself.
"I'm just going to focus on the game and how to help my team win."
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Ovechkin Just Sent A Powerful Message About These Capitals
Alex Ovechkins decision to sign a one-year extension for the 2026-27 season gives the Capitals something they have not always had in recent years: a clear sense that their captain still believes this group can chase something bigger. Washington has spent the offseason reshaping the roster, bringing in Jordan Kyrou, Alex Tuch and Vincent Desharnais, and the additions have added more weight to a team that already had reason to think it could stay in the mix.
For Ovechkin, the return is about more than extending a remarkable career. It is also a signal that he sees enough in this version of the Capitals to keep pushing forward, with the Stanley Cup still the standard in his mind. The message matters because it comes at a time when Washington is trying to turn offseason upgrades into something more than optimism on paper. [Read more 🡒]
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The Capitals have built a reputation for squeezing real value out of their cap space, and Aliaksei Protas is a clean example of why that matters. Signed to a five-year deal worth $3.375 million per year, he has grown into a top-six forward while giving Washington far more production than his price tag would suggest.
Protas has followed his first full NHL season with consecutive 52-plus point campaigns, a leap that has turned a modest contract into one of the organizations best bargains. With three years still left on the deal, the bigger question is how long Washington can keep getting this kind of return, especially if this is only one of the clubs most efficient investments. [Read more 🡒]