Alex Ovechkin is set to be the third-oldest player in the NHL when he takes the ice this fall and one of just 69 players in league history to play in a game after turning 40 years old. However, the Great 8 acknowledged that he’ll eventually hit an age where he’ll want to hang up his skates.
After Ovechkin’s six-year-old son, Sergei Ovechkin, put together a flashy 4-goal performance in Saturday’s Ovi Cup gala match, RB Sports’ Dilshad Lomovskikh asked the elder Ovechkin whether he’d like to play with his son on a pro team someday.
“I already went out on the ice with him a year ago, and that’s when my dream came true,” Ovechkin said, per a translation by Google Translate. “In 15 years, I’ll be 55. At 55, I’m not ready to play professional hockey.”
Ovi Jr., as Sergei is affectionately called, will first be eligible in the 2036 NHL Draft — four years fewer than the 15 years Ovechkin cited, but still putting him at over 50. Sergei has been on skates since he was just two years old, taking his first steps out onto the ice with his dad in 2020.
Ovechkin has said Sergei now regularly plays and practices with a club team, but it will still take several years to determine whether he’ll be able to follow in his dad’s footsteps at the professional level. Ovechkin’s younger son, Ilya, is also now more into hockey and regularly faces off with his brother at home.
Only one player in NHL history has ever played alongside his son, when Gordie Howe joined both Mark and Marty Howe on the 1979-80 Hartford Whalers. Gordie was 51 years old and still managed to record 41 points (15g, 26a) in 80 games.
Howe is the only NHL player to ever play into his 50s, officially ending his career at 52 years and 11 days old. The next oldest is Chris Chelios, who finished his playing days at 48 years and 71 days old.
