An email from the Washington Capitals apparently announced that Alex Ovechkin will be hanging up the skates at the conclusion of the 2025-26 season, but the team's public relations department quickly retracted that statement.
On Thursday morning, the Caps sent out a message to season ticket holders to drum up excitement for next year -- and in it, they hyped up Ovechkin's pending retirement. The Great 8 has one year left on his five year, $9.5 million AAV contract, and this seemingly confirmed suspicions that he will not be re-signing once it expires next summer.
Less than an hour after the news broke, the Capitals rushed to put out a tweet saying that his retirement has not yet been confirmed and the email was sent out in error.
Putting the confusion aside, it's still not unreasonable to expect that he will be leaving the NHL next year. Last February, Ovi was asked by a Russian reporter whether he'd retire after his contract expires and he responded "I think, yes."
However, this doesn't mean that he will be done with pro hockey for good after his NHL days are over. Ovechkin has flip-flopped in the past about whether he'd have a last hurrah in Russia's KHL before officially calling it quits. He has expressed a desire to finish his career with the team that started it all, Dynamo Moscow, but has left it open-ended to this point.
As he approaches his 21st NHL season, Ovechkin has permanently left his mark on the game. We witnessed history this year when Ovi broke the all-time goals record held by Wayne Gretzky that was previously considered to be "unbreakable" -- but that's just the beginning in a long list of impressive accomplishments.
Even as a rookie, Ovechkin cemented himself as one of the most elite scorers in the modern era. With 52 goals in 2005-06, only Teemu Selanne (72) and Mike Bossy (53) tallied more in their inaugural NHL season.
Once he got started, he never slowed down. Part of Ovechkin's allure has been his longevity. Starting with his rookie year, Ovi has scored 30 or more goals in 19 different seasons, something no other skater in history has ever done. The only year that he potted fewer than 30 was the shortened COVID-19 year in 2020-21 -- and he still hit the net 24 times in 45 games played.
Ovechkin is also the highest-scoring player in history on the man advantage with 326 power play goals -- 52 more than Dave Andreychuk in second place.
He has no shortage of hardware to show for his scoring prowess. Ovechkin has won the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the NHL's goal-scoring leader a whopping nine times since its inception in 1998-99. He and Connor McDavid are the only players in history to win the Art Ross, Hart Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award, and Rocket Richard in the same season.
Ovechkin also captained his team to its first-ever Stanley Cup in 2018, scoring 27 points in 24 games and taking home the Conn Smythe as the playoffs MVP.
"At no point am I thinking in my head that there's ever going to be a day without Ovi on the Caps. He's still flying out there… You can never count that guy out. He's such a tremendous leader. "Tom Wilson (via Sammi Silber on X)
It's hard to imagine what the Capitals team will look like one day without its most iconic player since entering the league in 1974-75. He's the longest-tenured skater to ever put on a Washington jersey. When the time comes for Ovechkin's retirement, plus that of longtime teammate Nicklas Backstrom who will finish his career in the Sweden, it will certainly mark the end of an unforgettable era.
With everything that Ovechkin has accomplished during his career, there's little doubt that he will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer down the line, whether he retires next season or beyond.