Alex Ovechkin The final NHL contract apparently could have been a little different.
According to hockey insider Elliotte Friedman, Ovechkin and the Capitals initially discussed a two-year contract before ultimately agreeing to a one-year contract, which will be his last with the team after he announced his intention to retire after this season. Friedman shared the new details on the latest episode of the 32 Thoughts podcast.
“The only thing that surprised me a little bit (was) he said he made his decision this summer,” Friedman said of Ovechkin’s recent interview explaining his decision to retire. “Originally, it was rumored that Ovechkin and the Capitals were potentially talking about a two-year deal. Whether they were seriously talking about it or Ovechkin just offered it, a two-year deal had been offered. So when I heard he was coming back, even though he signed a one-year deal, I wondered if he thought he was going to play for two.”
Ovechkin ultimately signed a one-year contract worth $1 million in salary, plus a $3.25 million signing bonus and up to $4.75 million in performance bonuses. After signing in early July, Ovechkin himself discussed the possibility of not ending his NHL career after the 2026-27 campaign, deliberately leaving that decision up in the air.
The legendary winger has also repeatedly stated that he wants the final match of his playing career to take place with his hometown club Dynamo Moscow. Dynamo CEO Anatoly Kharchuk has previously said the KHL club would build its roster around Ovechkin if he returns.
Friedman believes Ovechkin’s final decision to play just one more season in the NHL came, in part, after he realized his role with the Capitals would change dramatically. Over Washington’s first three games of the season, Ovechkin averaged just 13:28 of ice time per game. He played a career-best 12:46 in the season opener against the Carolina Hurricanes, 13:34 against the Tampa Bay Lightning and 14:05 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
For context, Friedman noted that Ovechkin played a few 14-minute games relatively early last season, but he didn’t play less than 14:05 in a game until his 59th appearance of the year. And in Wednesday’s 5-3 home win over the Penguins, Ovechkin received just two third-period shifts from head coach Spencer Carbery and didn’t see the ice after Pittsburgh pulled its goaltender for an extra attacker. He also did not initiate a change in the defensive zone.
“I suspect one of the things that Ovechkin kind of realized here is that it wasn’t going to be the same for him,” Friedman said. “Eventually you’re going to slow down. Father Time is undefeated. We see it here. One of the reasons the Capitals felt they needed to change things was because last year they were slow and it was too difficult to score. They couldn’t do it the same way.
“They came out, got Tuch and got Kyrou. You could see where that was going to lead. It’s not like they were going to disrespect him, but his influence on games was going to be diminished. He just wasn’t going to do the same thing as before. I guess when that became clear to him, I just didn’t know if he was going to last more than a year.”
Ovechkin’s reduced role always seemed to be part of the Capitals’ plans for this season, as the team added so much depth at forward that Carbery would need to spread minutes throughout the lineup. Those calculations probably didn’t even take into account the fact that Ovechkin would be in his age-41 season and posted some of the worst skating speed metrics in the NHL last year.
“That’s a tough thing to answer, because I expect O to be O, but I also understand where he’s at in his career, and it’s my job to help him, whether it’s deployment, minutes, power play deployment, all that,” Carbery said last week. “And especially early in the year, because he hasn’t played any preseason games, to make sure I’m watching him early and trying to set him up for success.”
During Ovechkin’s illustrious career, the lowest ice time per game he has ever averaged over a full season came last year, averaging 17:26 per game.
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