ARLINGTON, V.A. — General manager Chris Patrick isn't sure which way Alex Ovechkin is leaning when it comes to his future with the Washington Capitals, though he is confident they'll have an answer sooner rather than later.

Patrick spoke on Ovechkin and the state of the Capitals following the 2026 NHL Draft, and said that while he's not sure what he'll decide, he has an idea of what a contract could look like if he chooses to return.

Ovechkin becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1. Washington has cap flexibility to not only re-sign him if need be, but to also address ac couple more areas of need.

"From my conversations with Alex before he left, I had an understanding of if he does come back, kind of what he's looking at contract-wise," Patrick said. "That kind of gave me some clarity as far as what we can do spending-wise."

When it comes to spending, Patrick has done quite a bit to open the offseason, trading for Jordan Kyrou and Alex Tuch, who signed an eight-year deal with a $10.5 million AAV, earlier in the week.

The moves immediately bolstered the Capitals' top-6, and while Patrick made those trades to help the group remain a contender and also prepare for the inevitable post-Ovechkin era, it does help that the captain was excited by the moves.

"Alex, as you guys all know, is a really competitive person, and he wants to win," Patrick said. "He definitely wanted to see kind of what we did here in this offseason to help inform his decision, so I think this will help give him some more information to make a decision on."

The 40-year-old said at the end of the season he is "pretty sure" he hasn't played his last NHL game, and told FONBET in May that he's still deciding on his future and will announce his intentions at some point in July.

Patrick isn't expecting Ovechkin to wait too long to decide, and that it won't stretch too far into the summer.

"I think we'll have a conversation in the near future and get a good sense of where he's at," Patrick said.

Ovechkin is coming off his 21st NHL season, where he appeared in all 82 games and led Washington with 32 goals and 64 points. He is the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer with 929 regular-season goals, and is just 10 goals behind Wayne Gretzky for the most combined career goals including playoffs.