Washington Capitals Walk Back Statement About Alex Ovechkin’s Retirement

In a heartfelt messsge to season ticket holders, the Washington Capitals announced that the 2025-26 season would mark the final chapter in Alex Ovechkin’s illustrious NHL career.

However, The Hockey News' Sammi Silber reported that message, which was delivered to season tickets holders via an email, was "not accurate."

Just confirmed with the Capitals that the email regarding this being Alex Ovechkin’s final NHL season is not accurate.
— Sammi Silber 🏒 (@sammisilber) May 29, 2025

The Capitals then announced on the team's PR X account that the 2025-26 season may not be Ovechkin's final NHL campaign.

"No decision has been made on Alex Ovechkin's future following the 2025-26 NHL season," read the tweet.

"An email was sent from an individual with the corporate sales department that mistakenly alluded to next year being Alex Ovechkin's final year."

No decision has been made on Alex Ovechkin’s future following the 2025-26 NHL season.

An email was sent from an individual with the corporate sales department that mistakenly alluded to next year being Alex Ovechkin’s final year.
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) May 29, 2025

Although the winger is under contract for only one more season, the email was highly unusual. Stars such as Ovechkin typically announce their own future or retirement plans.

The mysterious email came on the heels of "The Great 8" breaking the NHL's all-time goal scoring record, which Wayne Gretzky held for 31 years, during the 2024-25 season.

Ovechkin has registered 897 goals, 326 power-play goals, 136 game-winning goals and 6,864 shots on net in his 20-year NHL career. All of those marks are NHL records.

During the 2024-25 campaign, Ovechkin posted 44 goals and 73 points with a plus-15 rating. It was the 14th 40-goal season of his career.

In the playoffs, Ovechkin added five more goals and an assist in 10 games. But the Capitals, who were the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, suffered a second-round loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in five games.

Even though he turns 40 years old before the start of the 2025-26 season, there's little reason to doubt Ovechkin's fantasy value going forward. The only time Ovechkin failed to reach 30 goals in his career was in 2020-21 when he only played 45 games.

Over the past four seasons since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic impact on the league, Ovechkin has averaged 41.8 goals per season. He's obviously been a strong contributor in power play points and shots on goal. The Capitals captain is even more valuable in leagues that have PIM and hits as categories.

But fantasy managers in redraft leagues should be a little wary of targeting Ovechkin too early this fall. Ovechkin posted 44 goals in 2024-25 behind a career-best 18.6% shooting percentage.

In 2023-24, Ovechkin's shooting percentage was 11.4%. Over his entire career, he's scored on 13.1% of his shots on goal.

NHL veterans, even all-time greatest, don't improve their shot at 39 years old. Therefore, it's not a stretch to argue Ovechkin benefitted from some "goal-scoring luck" in 2024-25.

He was owed that after his 11.4% shooting percentage, which led to 31 goals, in 2023-24.

If Ovechkin falls back to his career norm in shooting percentage next season, he will be hard pressed to reach 40 goals again. That's because his shots on goal totals have decreased each of the past three years.

This past season, part of that decrease was due to Ovechkin playing in fewer games (65). But he also had only 3.6 shots on net per contest last season.

That's not to say Ovechkin won't still a worthwhile fantasy asset at 40 in 2025-26. He's the best goal-scorer the NHL has ever seen, and he appears capable of continuing to produce for a few more campaigns.

But owners should expect a 30-goal output next season, not 40.