"I don’t know if it’s the end or not," said the Washington Capitals sniper, who is showing no signs of slowing down for a team that still has its eyes on a playoff spot.
Alex Ovechkin hasn’t yet decided if this will be his final season playing in the NHL. But there are signs everywhere that he is at least mentally preparing for the inevitable end.
After taking warm-ups in what could be his last game in Canada, the Washington Capitals sniper scooped up a couple of pucks from the ice at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto and handed them to a team trainer. Presumably, they will be keepsakes to add to his growing collection of memorabilia.
That is, if Ovechkin actually decides to hang up his skates.
“I don’t know if it’s the end or not," the Russian winger, who is a pending UFA, said on Wednesday. "If I was 35 or 25, it's one thing. But when you're 40, you have to think for the future.”
That future was on full display in a 4-0 win against the Maple Leafs.
While Ovechkin failed to record a point in 16:36 of ice time against Toronto, all four of Washington’s rookies — Ilya Protas, who was making his NHL debut, Cole Hutson, Ryan Leonard and Justin Sourdif — landed on the scoresheet in a game that was more about welcoming in the next wave than it was about saying goodbye the old guard.
"That's just things to remember," said Protas, who was put on the ice for the opening face-off next to his brother, Aliaksi, and Ovechkin. "That's what I'm going to tell my kids about. That's a special, special thing for me."
“The organization’s in a great spot,” said winger Tom Wilson. “They’ve done such a good job of having a good culture, a good core and bringing in so much good, youthful talent to keep us energized and youthful. It doesn’t matter who’s in the lineup. They give us a chance to win.”
That mix of young and old is contributing to what could be an unlikely playoff spot for Washington. With three games remaining, the Capitals are three points back of the Ottawa Senators for the final wild card spot in the East. It’s a long shot that they’ll get in. But the fact that the Capitals still have something to play for could be the reason why Ovechkin hasn’t yet made his plans known.
“We know we need help and we need to win out,” said Capitals coach Spencer Carbery. “We knew we needed two points. We’ve got a day off tomorrow and then we’ve got (Pittsburgh) in a back-to-back, so we’re not focused on both Pitt games. One game on Saturday, just try to get two points in the standings and stay in the fight.”
For Ovechkin, those two games against Pittsburgh could provide the perfect sendoff for a player whose career has been forever linked to Penguins captain Sidney Crosby.
While Crosby is one year younger than Ovechkin and has another year remaining on his current contract, both players are at the tail-end of their respective Hall of Fame careers. Since entering the league together as rivals in 2005-06, Crosby and Ovechkin have met 99 times in the regular season and playoffs.
In 74 regular season games against one another, Crosby has the edge, having scored 97 points (35 goals and 62 assists) to Ovechkin’s 70 points (38 goals and 32 assists). Meanwhile, the Penguins have won three of the four times the teams met in the playoffs, with the winner of each series eventually going on to hoist the Stanley Cup (Pittsburgh in 2009, 2016 and 2017, and Washington in 2018).
If Washington were to sneak into the playoffs, we just might get to see another Sid versus Ovie matchup. Either way, the NHL is planning as if this could be the final two meetings between the two giants of the game.
Saturday’s 3pm game in Pittsburgh will be televised on ABC, while Sunday’s 3pm game in Washington will be aired on TNT, HBO Max. The Capitals then finish the season in Columbus, with ESPN airing what could be Ovechkin's last NHL game.
“I just think the games in general, playing against Pitt who is one of our biggest rivals, (we know) what’s at stake,” said Carbery. "So they’re in a playoff spot, we’re fighting like hell to stay in it. O-Sid always adds a little bit extra, so if this ends up being the end for O, to sort of have these two games, national television against Pitt, will be special moments.”
Selfishly, fans are probably hoping this won't be it. After all, it's not like Ovechkin is showing signs of winding down.
Ovechkin, who passed Wayne Gretzky as the NHL's all-time goal-scoring leader, is leading the Capitals with 31 goals and 61 points in 79 games. It was the 20th time in his 21-year career that Ovechkin has reached the 30-goal mark. And with Ovechkin only being 11 goals away from Gretzky's all-time record of 1,016 goals in both the regular season and playoffs, there is still more to play for.
Maybe that's why Ovechkin has avoided doing the kind of farewell tour that others, like Los Angeles' Anze Kopitar, have typically done. Maybe that's coming next year. Or maybe the year after.
"We'll see,” said Ovechkin, who was named Washington's Masterton Memorial Trophy nominee earlier this week. “I still enjoy it, I still have fun. I’m still happy to be with the boys in the locker room."