Sidney Crosby doesn’t expect Alex Ovechkin to retire after historic 2024-25 season: ‘He’s playing unbelievable even at his age’

The Washington Capitals saw their 2024-25 season end with a 3-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night. Almost immediately after the final horn sounded, questions surrounding Alex Ovechkin’s future began to arise.

The 39-year-old winger has one more year remaining on his contract with the Capitals, but has little left to achieve in the league after breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record last month. One person who seems sure Ovi will play next year is his long-time rival turned friend, Sidney Crosby, who was asked at this year’s World Championship to give his thoughts on Ovechkin potentially calling it quits.

“I don’t expect him to retire,” Crosby told TSN on Friday. “He’s playing unbelievable even at his age. What he’s able to do is pretty incredible, so if he feels good, I’m sure he’ll keep going.”

Ovechkin finished his age-39 season with 44 goals in 65 games, the most goals ever by a player 39 years or older and his highest goals-per-game rate in a season since 2010. After breaking his left leg in November, Ovechkin returned and finished third in the NHL in goals despite missing 17 games.

The Capitals as a team also had a tremendous season, finishing 111 standings points atop the Eastern Conference. The club won 50 games in a season for the first time since the 2016-17 campaign, but couldn’t extend that regular season success into more than a first-round series victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

“They had high expectations this year with the season that they had, so I’m sure it’s a little bit disappointing,” Crosby said. “But with the year that he had and what he accomplished, I think it was cool for him and his team, everybody that’s in the league, and everybody that was able to be part of that. That’s a pretty rare thing to experience.”

Crosby congratulated Ovechkin, publicly and privately, after he scored career goal number 896 against the Islanders on April 6. He also called Ovechkin’s record-tying goal “pretty cool to see” when asked about it a day before Ovechkin became goals king.

The 37-year-old center and Ovechkin’s fellow countryman, Evgeni Malkin, later gifted Ovechkin a Rolex watch after a Capitals-Penguins game on April 17. Ovechkin also played congratulator to Crosby in late March when the legendary Penguins center clinched a 20th season averaging at least a point per game, passing Gretzky for the most in NHL history.

“Yeah, it was like yesterday [we debuted], but we already beat Great One,” Ovechkin said in April. “Two decades, we kinda transformed ourselves to stay in the same level and show that we’re pretty good players.”

Before the regular-season finale against the Penguins, Ovechkin was asked if it was important to play “one more time” against the Penguins and Crosby.

“I’m not retire yet, so,” Ovechkin said somewhat incredulously, suggesting future matchups are still ahead.

Ovechkin also recently said he plans to “stick around” in the NHL for as long as he can. Crosby has two more years left on his Penguins contract.