Capitals Captain Alex Ovechkin Set To Make Return To Ice For NHL vs. KHL All-Star Game

Former Capitals Dmitry Orlov and Ilya Kovalchuk will also play.

Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is set to make his return to the ice this weekend, as he will play in an All-Star match between NHL and KHL players on Saturday in Moscow.

The 38-year-old helped coordinate the event, along with Artemi Panarin and Mikhail Sergachev. The match will also feature the likes of former Capitals Ilya Kovalchuk and Dmitry Orlov, while Igor Shesterkin, Alex Radulov and more stars will also play.

Ovechkin is entering his 20th NHL season and is coming off what he called one of the more challenging seasons of his career, where he struggled to find twine early in the year but kicked things into higher gear to record his record 18th 30-goal season.

He currently sits at 853 goals and is 42 red lights away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record.

The first-of-its-kind matchup between NHL and KHL stars will be a good tuneup for several players heading into the season. Ovechkin has been vacationing in Turkey and has also been keeping in shape with padel and beach volleyball, and now, he'll get some work in on the ice before continuing his offseason training ahead of his return to D.C. in the coming weeks.

Ovechkin said at the end of the season that he planned to make some changes to his training and offseason regimen. He works with Pavel Burlachenko and usually returns to the United States ahead of training camp for informal on and off-ice workouts with his teammates in the Nation's Capital.