Crosby on Ovechkin: 'I don't expect him to retire'
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While a promising season for the Washington Capitals came to an end on Thursday, Sidney Crosby expects his rivalry with Alex Ovechkin to continue for at least another year.
"I don't expect him to retire," Crosby said Friday at the IIHF World Hockey Championship where he is serving as captain of Team Canada. "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's 20th NHL season with a 3-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in their second-round series. The 39-year-old said in April ahead of the playoffs that he would not be retiring this year and intended play out the final season of his current contract.
Boosted by Ovechkin's 44 goals and 73 points in 65 games, the Capitals finished atop the Eastern Conference during the regular season. The Great 8 broke Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record on April 6 with his 895th career goal. He holds the record with 897 entering the off-season.
"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, but [also] everybody that's in the league and everybody that was able to be part of that. That's a pretty rare thing to experience."
Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery also said his "understanding is" Ovechkin will be back next season.
“For him to come back this year and play the way that he did, chase down this record, start that he had, breaking his leg, coming back from that, and just continuing to not only do the things he did individually statistically, but lead our team,” Carbery said following Thursday's loss. “It's why people are going to look at this team and go, ‘How did this team do so well? How did they win the East?’ He's a big part of that.”
Ovechkin is heading into the last of a five-year, $47.50M contract at the start of the 2025-26 campaign. His deal carries an annual average value of $9.5 million and was signed in the summer of 2021.
The first overall pick of the Capitals in the 2004 draft, Ovechkin helped deliver a Stanley Cup to the franchise in 2018, also winning the Conn Smythe in the process.