Before the start of the 2026-27 NHL season, Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, the League's all-time leading goal scorer, confirmed that it would be his final campaign.
Ovechkin, selected first overall by the Capitals in the 2004 NHL Draft, has spent his entire career with the franchise and is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. It's also very likely that his record as the League's all-time leading goal scorer will stand for years to come, much like Wayne Gretzky's did for nearly two and a half decades.
Ovechkin, who began the season with 929 goals, is now up to 930 after scoring his first of the season on Sunday evening against the Seattle Kraken at Capital One Arena. Left all alone in front of Kraken goaltender Joey Daccord, Ovechkin took a pass from teammate Ilya Protas and, as he's done throughout his career, sniped a shot to the top corner of the net.
The goal gave the Capitals a 2-1 lead in the first period of play.
Ovechkin confirmed prior to the season that he intended to call it a career after the end of the 2026-27 campaign.
“My family and I decided this summer that this will be my final year in the NHL,” he said as part of the announcement. “I love this game so much, but I know in my heart it's the right decision.”
After having missed the playoffs earlier this spring, the Capitals would love nothing more than to give their Hall of Fame captain one last Stanley Cup run before he hangs up the skates.