Great Eight not one and done as Capitals refute Ovechkin retirement rumour

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It doesn’t sound like next season will be a retirement tour for Alexander Ovechkin after all.

The hockey world went into a frenzy when word got out that a Washington Capitals staffer soliciting season ticket sales sent an email saying Ovechkin would call it quits after the 2025-26 NHL season.

But the Capitals clarified matters Thursday, tweeting: “No decision has been made on Alex Ovechkin’s future following the 2025-26 NHL season. An email was sent from an individual with the corporate sales department that mistakenly alluded to next year being Alex Ovechkin’s final year.”

Ovechkin, who turns 40 in September, passed Wayne Gretzky this spring to become the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer, so it made some sense that he might be ready to retire after likely cracking the Top 15 for games played next year.

But Ovechkin is still producing at an elite level. He scored 44 goals in 65 games, coming back from a severe injury to break Gretzky’s mark, and had five goals in 10 playoff games for Washington.

When the Caps were eliminated from the playoffs by the Hurricanes, Ovechkin joked that he would join the Hershey Bears for a minor league playoff run. He committed to playing next year, but not beyond.

“First of all, (I have) to make a roster at 40 years old,” Ovechkin said.

“I’m going to use those couple months (in the offseason) to rest, enjoy my life, then back to work,” Ovechkin said. “Me and (trainer Pavel Burlachenko are) going do our job to get ready for the season and just do my best.

He said he wants to win a second Stanley Cup, or at least make the conference final for only the second time.

“I’m looking forward for next year,” Ovechkin said. “I’m going to try to do my best to play and my team is going to help me, too. … I just want to come back next year and see the team who’s capable of winning the Stanley Cup.”

And after that?

“I haven’t thought about it yet, but we’ll see what’s going to happen,” Ovechkin said. “I’m going to try to do my best to be able to do well next year, and we’ll see.”

Ovechkin needs 19 points to pass Joe Sakic and enter the Top-10 in points.

His latest contract with the Capitals, the only team he’s played for, will expire after next season, his 21st in the NHL. He has said he wants to play in Russia before he retires from hockey.

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