And it's not Ilya Kovalchuk.
Unfortunately for hockey fans, Alex Ovechkin will not be participating in the highly-anticipated 4 Nations Face-Off that begins in Montreal on Wednesday night. Instead, the Washington Capitals superstar will be meeting up with a ‘mystery trainer' in Florida during the 13-day break.
“I flew to Miami with my wife and children. And I will have a small training camp with a person whose name I will not name yet. But he played in the NHL,” Ovechkin said in an interview with RG's Sergey Demidov earlier this week.
“Let's make a little mystery out of this. And it is not Ilya Kovalchuk. Maybe you will see this on my or his social media. He is a famous person. In Miami, of course, I will also rest, as I am doing now. You need to rest well and work hard! I will rest for a few days, recover, and prepare.”
Despite breaking his fibula and missing 16 games, Ovechkin has played some of the best hockey of his career in 2024-25. The Stanley Cup champion is up to 26 goals and 43 points in just 39 games. And he's led the Capitals to the top of the Eastern Conference in the process.
“Everyone understands why we [are in first place],” Ovechkin told Demidov. “We have roster depth, which allows us to rotate and swap lines. It also helps that there are no serious injuries.”
Now a remarkable 36-11-8 through 55 games, the Capitals have built a cushion at the top of the Eastern Conference — and are neck-and-neck with the Winnipeg Jets in the President's Trophy race.
Capitals the class of the Eastern Conference at 4 Nations break
Ovechkin just continues to defy Father Time, and along with a revamped roster in the nation's capital, Washington is again looking like a Stanley Cup contender in 2025.
Although the 39-year-old wants to focus on preparing for the second half of the season, rather than breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record, there's a very real chance he'll score the 16 goals necessary to set the NHL record this season.
Gretzky scored 894 goals in his illustrious career; Ovechkin is at 879 tallies through 1,465 games.
With a nine-point lead on the Florida Panthers, there's a great chance the Capitals win the East. But the Jets remain a point ahead at 39-14-3, and they're entering the break on an eight-game winning streak.
That should be a photo finish, but Ovechkin will be more worried about the quest to capture a second Stanley Cup championship. He led Washington to its first title in franchise history in 2018, but he's never been past the second round outside of that thrilling postseason.
He'll be looking to make another deep run with a terrific Capitals roster come spring. Washington is back in action against the Pittsburgh Penguins on the road on February 22 after the 4 Nations Face-Off concludes.
Until then, Ovechkin will train with his ‘mystery partner' as he positions himself to become the greatest goal scorer in National Hockey League history sometime between now and the middle of April.
