Capitals’ Ovechkin hopes NHL career isn’t over yet

One of the reporters actually asked Ovechkin, who has been with the Capitals since he was selected first overall by the team in the 2004 NHL Draft, if he would consider playing for another team.

“I’m a free agent,” Ovechkin joked. “Probably not.”

The possibility of the 40-year-old stepping away from the game really came to the surface after an interview with longtime Capitals’ radio broadcaster John Walton, when Ovi stated that he was going to wait until the summer before making a call on his career.

“I have to talk to my family,” Ovechkin said. “With [team owner Ted Leonsis], with [general manager Chris Patrick], [president of hockey operations Brian MacLellan], and we have to make a decision in the summer.”

Then, in Washington’s final home game of the season, ironically coming against the Pittsburgh Penguins, fans at Capital One Arena cried out to their hero, “One more year.” To which the GR8 later responded with “I will think about it.”

Ovechkin will go down as the greatest goal scorer the game has ever seen. In 1,569 regular-season games, he has scored 928 goals and 756 assists for 1,684 points – good for 10th all-time. He has reached the 50-goal mark an impressive nine times, tied for the most historically with Gretzky and Mike Bossy. Ovechkin has won the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy a record nine times, the Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award three times, the 2007-08 Art Ross Trophy, and the Conn Smythe Trophy when he led the Capitals to their first Stanley Cup in 2018.