TORONTO — The greatest goal scorer who ever lived has no interest in hyping up what may well be his final professional hockey game in Canada.
“I don’t know if it’s the end or not,” Alex Ovechkin said Wednesday morning at Toronto Scotiabank Arena. “I’m still enjoy it. I’m still have fun. I’m still happy to be with the boys.”
But the boys have access to the standings, and they show the Washington Capitals — the franchise Ovechkin made great — four teams and five points out of a playoff spot with only four games to go.
Quite possibly in a colourful, charismatic, calamitous career unlike any we’ve seen or will witness again.
“It’s just healthwise, you know?” Ovechkin said. “If I was 35 or 25, it’s one thing, but when you’re 40, you have to think for future.”
Ovechkin, a free agent on July 1, said he’ll have discussions with his father, Mikhail, his wife, Anastasia, and general manager Chris Patrick and would like to make his decision by the first day of summer.
“Game’s changed almost every year,” Ovechkin said. “More faces come into the league, and you can see how fast they are, how skilled they are. And obviously you have to adjust yourself, your body, your mind. And, yeah… you know, it’s life.”
Ovechkin was noncommittal on the popular theory that he’d return to playing in the KHL once he felt the NHL has speeded past him, and he brushed off the notion of chasing Wayne Gretzky’s combined regular-season and playoff goal record (1,016), a mark he’d surely pass with one-year contract, as Ovechkin has already racked up 1,005 total.
“Of course, people talk about,” Ovechkin said, “but I’m concentrated right now on different things.”
Like helping the only North American team he’s known gather a couple of points in Toronto, a town he’s already torched for 25 goals over 30 games and one that inspires his A game.
“Yeah, it’s history,” Ovechkin said. “Fans, you guys… it’s always nice to play when it’s sold out and people know about hockey.”
If you’re seeking clues, wondering if this is indeed Ovechkin’s swan song, Dylan Strome provides a big one.
Ovechkin, his centreman says, isn’t interested in a Derek Jeter–like farewell tour.
Maybe because he already soaked in one during last season’s Gr8 Chase™. The Capitals were a travelling circus for months. Hordes of media, constant attention, demands on time.
The team’s accomplishments, while impressive, were secondary to the individual’s.
“It was really cool to be a part of,” Strome said. “I don’t think he wants to do that again, to be honest. I’m not gonna put words in his mouth, but he did say he doesn’t want the big sendoff.
“He deserves whatever he would want. So, as a teammate, you’re just trying to be there for him and enjoy the time to get to play with him.”
If this is the end — and it feels like it may be — Ovechkin is going out with a blast, registering his 20th 30-goal campaign as the third-oldest player on the circuit.
True, he’s starting an insane 90.8 per cent of his shifts in the offensive zone and is a prominent feature of PP1 and PP2, but 26 of his 31 goals are at even-strength and he has still launched 128 hits.
“Anything you don’t think Alex Ovechkin can’t do, you’re sorely mistaken,” coach Spencer Carbery. “It happened last year. It happened this year, where you think maybe the goals have dried up. And all of a sudden, he scores nine goals in 12 games. Next thing you know, you look at the stat pack, and he’s got 30 goals on the season. He’s 40 years old, and you just shake your head.
“He defies all logic when it comes to as fast as the league has gotten, as good as the league’s gotten, he’s still productive at this point in his career.”
And still wholly engaged.
Goalie Logan Thompson says if Ovechkin throws out the Bat-signal to go for beers, teammates come running.
“No one’s more excited when other guys score goal than he is,” Strome adds. “I think you can learn a lot from that.”
Ex-Capital and current Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube relays an anecdote about Ovechkin’s adaptability.
A teammate was feeding No. 8 pucks at practice so he could work on his trademark one-timer from the flank. Ovechkin asked his passer to quit sending him flat pucks in his wheelhouse. He’d rather them imperfect, rolling and slithering and dusty. Like in real life.
“He knows in a game he’s not going to get it on the tape all the time,” Berube says. “I mean, his shot was… you know, I don’t know if there’s anybody that could shoot a puck like that.”
Strome recalls his very first day in Washington, prior to training camp in 2022. There was a buzz in the gym that the captain was coming back into town. And as Ovechkin walked into the trainers’ room, the jokes began flying. He gave every single man a big hug, including Strome.
They’d never met.
“Immediately when he walks into the room, the room lights up. And everyone just seems to be happier — because he’s usually yelling something first thing when he walks in,” Strome says. “He never takes the game for granted and just loves every day in the NHL. And I think that’s something we can all learn from.”
The 44-year-old Carbery’s own playing career, as a left wing no less, came and went, and he started a fresh one in coaching as Ovechkin’s has endured. Carbery focuses on guiding the team, but he’ll still reflect once in a while on his part in Ovechkin’s history. Pinch-me moments along a ride that may finally come to a halt next week.
Without proclamation or ceremony.
Heck, the next time Ovechkin rolls into Toronto for a hockey event, it might be up the street, at the Hall of Fame.
“However he wanted to go out, he’s earned that right,” Carbery said. “Whether he’s back next year, he’ll be welcomed with open arms.
“And if this is it, we’ll support him that way. And I’ll celebrate him and give him a big hug and have a cold beer with him.”
