Washington Capitals: Alex Ovechkin wanting to finish with Caps is great for the NHL

Alex Ovechkin wanting to finish his NHL career with the Washington Capitals is the ending we all deserve.

About to enter into the final year of a 13-year, $124 million contract with the Washington Capitals, Alex Ovechkin has made it clear that he doesn’t intend on playing for anyone else in the National Hockey League.

And that is great news for everyone concerned.

Speaking to nhl.com, Ovechkin stressed that he isn’t planning on retiring for a while yet, with another five years of absolutely terrorizing NHL goalies and defenses a distinct possibility.

Instead, the Russian genius fully intends on wrapping up his NHL career with the only North American team he’s ever known in the Capitals, before finishing up his playing days in his native Russia with Dynamo Moscow.

"“There are certain goals that I want to achieve after my career,” he said. “But my career is not over yet. I’m still in my prime. I think I will definitely play for a few more years“It is clear, in two, three, four years, maybe five, I will end my career in Washington. I want to end on a beautiful note, to play my last match for Dynamo Moscow.”– Alex Ovechkin, via nhl.com."

That should be welcome news to both Capitals fans and NHL fans alike, given how big a star Ovechkin has become in North America.

He’s both iconic and an icon in his own right and everything Ovechkin is epitomizes what the Washington Capitals are all about. After all, the Caps have built their entire organization around their dynamic star and you can bet your bottom dollar that there will be a statue of No. 8 outside Capital One Arena one day.

As there rightly should be.

So, it would just be strange and downright wrong if Ovechkin went on to pull on another jersey of another team in the NHL, as it will when Henrik Lundqvist eventually makes his debut with the Washington Capitals, which still doesn’t sit right with this New York Rangers fan.

But, anyway, we digress.

Ovechkin is the Washington Capitals and the Washington Capitals are Alex Ovechkin, so it is only right that the two parties remain locked in this blissfully sweet union until the very end.

After all, loyalty is a hard thing to come by in sports these days and that’s why the NHL still carries a little bit of charm in that it is still common to see local heroes finish out their careers with one team, unlike in the NBA where star power has really taken over and certain juggernauts call all the shots.

There is something cool about watching a player get drafted by a team and then play out his entire career for that same team, and it looks like we will get our wish with Ovechkin and the Capitals.

Plus, the forward is currently chasing history in the form of the legendary and great Wayne Gretzky‘s all-time NHL goals record.

While it didn’t really seem feasible that anyone could score more than the 894 goals The Great One put up, Ovechkin has a realistic shot of doing just that and etching his name into the rich tapestry of the National Hockey League forever.

Currently on 706 goals, Ovechkin is 188 behind Gretzky and will need to keep up his pace of scoring at least 50 goals every season. If the Russian maverick were to remain in the NHL for the next five years, he would need to average 37 goals per season in order to catch Gretzky and make history.

I mean, it seems feasible given that Ovechkin scored 48 goals in 68 games during the 2019-20 season at 34-years-old and, even if certain attributes diminish with age, the forward’s goalscoring prowess likely won’t.

And it just wouldn’t be right to see Ovechkin surpass that seemingly unobtainable record, or at least come close to it, in any other jersey than a Washington Capitals one. It would be like having a PB&J sandwich without the jelly.

Therefore, the fact that Alex Ovechkin is hellbent on finishing his NHL career with the team that helped put him on the biggest stage to showcase his considerable talents, is not just good news for Washington Capitals fans but it is also good news for all of those hockey purists and traditionalists out there.