Can you picture Pittsburgh Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin and Washington Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin behind the bench as coaches? The NHL's all-time leading scorer can.
Alexander Ovechkin is nearing the end of his NHL playing career at the age of 40 and in his 21st season. His five-year contract with the Washington Capitals also expires at the end of the year, giving him an appropriate opportunity to retire, if he wishes.
After leaving a legacy of being the best goalscorer in the history of the NHL, what would be next for Ovechkin’s hockey career?
He’s stated before that when his NHL days are over, he’d want to return to the KHL and represent his boyhood club, Dynamo Moscow.
But recently, he hinted at potentially taking on another role to continue his hockey career after he retires.
Two Russian interviewers spoke with Ovechkin about Pittsburgh Penguins veteran Evgeni Malkin and what Malkin’s retirement could look like.
“I can see Malkin as a coach,” Ovechkin said in Russian. “The atmosphere in the locker room would definitely be awesome.”
As the conversation continued about Malkin and how Ovechkin believes the Penguins center could be a coach in the future, despite Malkin’s own belief that he may not be, the NHL’s all-time leading goalscorer threw himself in the ring.
“I’d even go as his assistant,” Ovechkin added. “For sure. If he were a coach, I’d go be his assistant.”
Alex Ovechkin has scored 922 goals and 1675 points in 1561 games, and Evgeni Malkin has scored 529 goals and 1398 points in 1262 games. (Geoff Burke-Imagn Images)It’s quite the mental image, seeing Malkin lead a team behind the bench, with Ovechkin beside him. Ovechkin would likely be in charge of his team’s power play and forwards, considering he’s made part of his living on the man advantage, and no one knows scoring goals better than Ovechkin does.
With that, the two Russian superstars have quite a resume when combining all their accolades.
They have a combined 2,823 NHL games played and 3,073 points scored. And along with four combined Stanley Cups, they have three Art Ross Trophies, two Calder Trophies, one Conn Smythe each, four Hart Trophies, four Ted Lindsay’s, and Ovechkin has nine career Rocket Richard Trophies.
Ovechkin and Malkin lead all Russian players to ever play in the NHL in appearances, goals and points. So, seeing the pair behind the bench of the same team, after playing on rival clubs throughout their whole playing career, would be a treat for hockey fans everywhere.
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