Alex Ovechkin Updates Retirement Timeline Ahead of 2026-27 NHL Season with Capitals

Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin isn't closing the door on the possibility of extending the NHL's all-time goalscoring record beyond the upcoming season.

Ovechkin told reporters Thursday he hasn't yet decided whether he will return for another season after the 2026-27 campaign, per Capitals reporter Sammi Silber.

"I have to make the team," Ovechkin joked, per Silber.

Ovechkin, 41, is set to be one of the oldest active players in the NHL after re-signing with the Capitals on a one-year deal this offseason.

He joins Colorado Avalanche defenseman Brent Burns and Los Angeles Kings winger Corey Perry as the NHL's only active players over 40.

Ovechkin told reporters Thursday he made the decision to return for another season after watching the Capitals' moves at the trade deadline and in free agency (h/t Capitals radio broadcaster John Walton).

The Capitals' moves since the spring have included acquiring defenseman Timothy Liljegren and extending top-line winger Ryan Leonard.

"The new faces, what we have, it will give us a chance to fight for a Cup," Ovechkin said.

Ovechkin declined throughout the 2025-26 season to confirm if he would be returning for another NHL campaign. He closed out the Capitals' final home game of the season by declining a handshake line arranged by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

He finally announced his intention to return for another season in July, at which point Ovechkin did not shut down the possibility of also playing in the 2027-28 campaign.

Ovechkin, who broke Wayne Gretzky's all-time goalscoring record in April 2025, scored 32 goals and played all 82 games for the Capitals last season.

Outside of the pandemic-shortened campaign in 2020-21, Ovechkin has scored more than 30 goals in 20 consecutive NHL campaigns.

He led the league in goalscoring seven times in eight years between 2012 and 2020, including a 2017-18 campaign he capped off by leading the Caps to the franchise's first Stanley Cup.

The Capitals will now hope to celebrate the return of NHL's leading goalscorer by making it back to the playoffs after missing out last season. That push will start Oct. 2 with a regular-season opener on the road against the defending champion Carolina Hurricanes.