Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin plans to spend his offseason overseas as usual, and is set to leave the DMV at the end of the month, according to his agent.
Ovechkin's agent, Gleb Chistyakov, told MatchTV that Ovechkin will return to his native Russia at the end of the month. From there, he will begin his offseason of work.
"Sasha will fly to Russia soon, he will be in Moscow at the end of May," Chistyakov said, per a DeepL translation. "There are certain plans, he will tell them himself if he wants to. I wouldn't want to advertise yet."
Ovechkin just finished his 20th NHL season, where he scored 44 goals — the third-most in the NHL — to overtake Wayne Gretzky as the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer, despite missing 16 games with a broken leg. He also led Washington with five goals in 10 playoff games before the Capitals were eliminated in the second round by the Carolina Hurricanes.
Going back home this offseason, Ovechkin said the priority will be to rest and stay healthy, and then pick up training closer to the season. He will again work with longtime trainer Pavel Burlachenko.
“Yeah. I think the most important thing is to do smart things when I get back to my home. Obviously, relax, don’t think about hockey and then you have to start doing it again," Ovechkin said. "That’s the hardest part after the summer. So, me and Pavel are going to do our job to get ready for the season and just do my best.”
The 39-year-old is entering the final year of the contract extension he signed in July 2021, and he said he intends to return to D.C. and honor his deal. He has also said on multiple occasions that he would want to finish his playing career in the KHL with his hometown team, Dynamo Moscow.
When it comes to what's next milestone-wise, Ovechkin isn't overthinking anything, and first and foremost, wants to show he can keep playing.
'“You, for me, it’s, first of all, to make the roster at 40 years old. Like I have to pass the skating test," he quipped. "That’s the one thing, and then we’ll see.”
As for the coaching staff and front office, they're excited to see what Ovechkin can do, and aren't ruling anything out when it comes to his future in the District.
“I think we’ve learned with him to leave possibilities open all the time," president of hockey operations Brian MacLellan said. "I think he had a fun year this year. He really enjoyed himself. The team had a lot of fun together and was successful and I think he’ll come back and we’ll see where it goes from there. Hopefully, he has another good year.”
