Ovechkin ‘still hungry’ heading into 20th NHL season with Capitals

ARLINGTON, Va. – Alex Ovechkin’s focus at the start of his 20th NHL season is more on helping the Washington Capitals find winning chemistry than the League goal record he might be able to reach before it ends.

Ovechkin is well aware that he needs to score 42 goals to break Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 894. But after a busy offseason in which Washington added seven new players, including trades for forwards Pierre-Luc Dubois and Andrew Mangiapane, and defenseman Jakob Chychrun, finding the right fit for everyone will be an imperative first step in its quest to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs again this season.

“I’m always saying I just have to do my job,” Ovechkin said after the Capitals’ first day of training camp practices on Thursday. “Of course, without goals, you’re not going to win the games. But right now, it’s the most important thing for us to find the line combinations because it’s new guys. It’s basically half the team that’s new. It’s new linemates, new teammates, so you have to use that time for not thinking about goals or something else.

“You just have to think about, ‘OK, what’s going to work for us to get success?”

Ovechkin, who turned 39 on Tuesday, has been a big part of the Capitals’ success. His 853 goals in 1,426 regular-season games, which are good for second in NHL history, have helped them qualify for the playoffs in 15 of his 19 seasons and win the Stanley Cup in 2018. But, as the forward reminded Thursday, “Unfortunately, I can’t stop the time.”

The Capitals have had to make some concessions to that. In fact, coach Spencer Carbery said Ovechkin is “a little bit nicked up” from a minor injury he sustained during offseason training, so they limited his repetitions a little in practice Thursday as a precaution.

“You just have to be smart, and we talked about it with our trainers and the coaching staff,” Ovechkin said. “So, I went (out) there just to see how I feel, and I feel nice out there. I was skating normal.”

After scoring 42 goals in 2022-23, Ovechkin dropped to 31 last season, the lowest output in an 82-game season of his career. He scored just eight goals in his first 43 games before rebounding to score 23 in his final 36 and help Washington (40-31-11) qualify for the playoffs as the second wild card from the Eastern Conference.

But after Ovechkin was held without a point in a four-game loss to the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference First Round – the first postseason series of his career in which didn’t get at least one point – Washington was aggressive during the offseason in trying to upgrade the roster around him.

In addition to trading for Dubois (Los Angeles Kings), Mangiapane (Calgary Flames) and Chychrun (Ottawa Senators), the Capitals signed defenseman Matt Roy (six-year, $34.5 million contract) and forwards Brandon Duhaime (two-year, $3.7 million contract) and Taylor Raddysh (one-year, $1 million), and traded for goalie Logan Thompson (Vegas Golden Knights).

Ovechkin practiced Thursday on a line with Dylan Strome, his center for much of the past two seasons, and Mangiapane, who scored an NHL career-high 35 goals in 2021-22 but had just 14 last season. Dubois centered a line between Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson.

“It’s an exciting time,” Ovechkin said. “Now, we have to find out the right combinations.”

The Capitals will probably tinker with those combinations throughout training camp and the preseason, but they will have a different look this season regardless. Ovechkin looks around the locker room and sees only three other players left from Washington’s 2018 Stanley Cup team: Wilson, defenseman John Carlson and forward Jakub Vrana, who is attending camp on a professional tryout agreement.

The Capitals announced Wednesday that forward T.J. Oshie, another member of the Capitals Cup core, is expected to be placed on long-term injured reserve this season because of a chronic back injury. That followed forward Nicklas Backstrom stepping away from the game last season because of a recurring hip problem.

“You have good friends, but it’s a business,” Ovechkin said. “Of course, you want to have a solid team to be able to make the playoffs and try to win the Stanley Cup. The last few years we improve ourselves, but it was not enough and I think everybody understand we need experienced guys who want to be part of it, and I think they did a pretty good job.”

Ovechkin believes he can still be an important contributor for the Capitals, saying, “I still have juice in my tank.” Those who have been around him longest have no doubt of that.

“He's still hungry. He's still Ovi,” Wilson said. “He's one of the hungriest hockey players I've ever been around. He wants to be great. He wants to do it, and you feel that as a group.”

Ovechkin has two seasons remaining on the five-year, $47.5 million contract he signed in 2021 with an eye on catching Gretzky before it expires. That appears to be a safe bet if he can stay healthy.

“I think in the next two seasons he can get it done,” Capitals general manager Chris Patrick said. “I'm hoping that this season he has a lot of people watching towards the end of the season, like 'It's getting a little close here if he can pull this off.' Some of the additions we made should hopefully help him.”

And maybe they can help Ovechkin enough so he can score the 42 goals he needs this season. He has scored at least that many in a season 13 times in his career, including as recently as 2022-23.

“Well, yeah, but every year it’s harder and harder to score,” Ovechkin said. “Teams play differently. Goalies play differently. So, we’re just going to try to do our best to score goals, win games and do all that kind of stuff.”