Alex Ovechkin has finally decided it is time.
The legendary Washington Capitals captain announced Monday that this season, his 22nd in the NHL, will be his last.
“My family and I decided this summer that this will be my final year in the NHL,” Ovechkin said in a team-issued statement. “I love this game so much, but I know in my heart it’s the right decision.”
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The 41-year-old forward made his announcement 21 years to the day of his Capitals’ Oct. 5, 2005, debut, a 3-2 win over Columbus, where he scored the first two goals of his career. Two decades later, he is the league’s all-time leading goal scorer with 929 and counting.
“Alex Ovechkin is one of the greatest players ever to play our game. But for Washington Capitals fans, and for all of us who have had the privilege of watching him here in Washington, he is so much more than that,” Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said on social media. “For more than two decades, Alex has given our fans everything they could ask for: the goals, the records, the physicality, the passion and an unmatched desire to win.”
Washington is two games into its season, but Ovechkin said he wanted to make the announcement before the home opener at Capital One Arena on Wednesday night against Pittsburgh, “so I have the chance to thank all the people around the game, everyone who has been so important to me and my family and helped me through good times and tough losses.”
Speculation picked up about Ovechkin’s retirement at the end of last season, with tributes to him and his accomplishments in back-to-back games between the Capitals and Penguins in April. “The Great 8” played coy, however, and signed a one-year contract extension in July.
“I am excited about this season with my teammates,” he said, “and we will do everything we can to make this year special. … See you Wednesday, babes!”
Ovechkin gave his teammates the news in a locker room speech Monday morning, according to the team, which posted a video of the address on social media. He received congratulations and a standing ovation from the room after his address.
The No. 1 pick in the 2004 NHL draft, Ovechkin has spent his entire career as a Capital, becoming one of the greatest professional athletes in Washington history and this season surpassing Washington Senators pitcher Walter Johnson as the city’s longest-tenured athlete.
His debut was delayed a year by the league’s 2005 lockout. When Ovechkin finally donned a screaming eagle sweater, he quickly asserted himself as a face of the league as it tried to regain traction after the lost season. Ovechkin’s 106-point maiden campaign earned him the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, his 52 goals tied him for third in the NHL, and his 425 shots both led the league and set a record for a rookie.
Two seasons later, Oveckhin would become Washington’s captain, and his toughness and signature left-wing howitzer became known to goaltenders everywhere as he and the Capitals garnered the league’s attention.
Washington won the first of four straight division titles in that 2007-2008 season. Ovechkin led them with 65 goals and 47 assists, the first player to crack 60 in 12 years. He captured the league MVP, scoring title, goal-scoring title and player’s MVP, making him the first player in NHL history to win all four awards in the same season.
His rise to stardom came alongside that of Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby, who knows better than anyone else the feelings Ovechkin has had to weigh throughout his career.
“Before we even met, we were kind of built up against each other. So, it’s kind of a natural thing to happen,” the 39-year-old Crosby told reporters in Pittsburgh on Monday. “When you get to our age, that’s something you have to make decisions on. For him, as long as he’s happy and enjoying it, that’s the biggest thing.”
Despite Ovechkin’s prowess, Washington struggled to find a playoff breakthrough for most of his career. In his first nine playoff appearances — seven of those as a division champion — Ovechkin’s Capitals never made an Eastern Conference Final.
The dam finally broke in 2018. After losing in two straight second-round series to Pittsburgh, Washington ended the Penguins’ run as Stanley Cup champions and took the title for their own.
Ovechkin’s 15 goals led all playoff scorers in 2018, earning him the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in Washington’s five-game win over the Vegas Golden Knights, the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.
The other statistical hallmark of his career came seven years later, in April 2025, when Ovechkin passed Wayne Gretzky to become the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer.
“It seemed like he was going to play forever,” former Capitals teammate and current Penguin Hendrix Lapierre told reporters Monday. “Best goal scorer of all time, by a mile. I mean, just seeing him on a daily basis shoot the puck, it’s something special. I can’t believe it’s his last year.”
Among his other accolades, Ovechkin has led the NHL in goals nine times, tallied three MVP trophies, is a 13-time All-Star selection, and was named one of the NHL’s 100 greatest players during the league’s centennial in 2017. He was the most lethal on the power play, where his 331 goals are also a league record.
“He’s done everything,” Penguins center and compatriot Evgeni Malkin told reporters. “It’s hard because he’s a legend. The fans love him. He did everything for a team, a league.”
A native of Moscow, Ovechkin has drawn criticism in some international circles for his longtime support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, including a recent appearance in a campaign ad for Mr. Putin’s United Russia political party.
“I’m Russian. I support my country,” Ovechkin told reporters last month. “I’m going to live there, my kids are going to live there. I’m for peace and love, and I hope everything’s going to be OK.”
Ovechkin’s toughness and durability, even while playing a physical style, were on display again last season, when he played all 82 games and scored 32 goals. He has reached 30 every season of his career except 2020-2021, notching 24 in a truncated season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“You see it every time he scores a goal, how much he enjoys it still. It means a lot to him, going up to his family now after he scores goals,” former teammate Trevor van Riemsdyk told reporters. “He’s a specimen and a guy you don’t want to run into in the corner, for sure.”
Ovechkin may head back to his native Russia next season, but his impact on a generation of Washingtonians will forever linger across the region as someone who introduced and inspired children and adults alike to pick up the game of hockey.
“Alex helped turn the Washington region into a true hockey market, inspiring a new generation of young fans to fall in love with the sport and young players to pick up a stick,” Leonsis said. “Across our community, you see the influence he has had on children, families, youth hockey programs and the many people who now proudly call themselves Capitals fans.”
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