Ovechkin has been asked about retirement before and has shot it down. On April 17, the day of the Capitals’ final regular-season game, a reporter brought it up again. The game was against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Ovechkin’s longtime rival, Sidney Crosby. The reporter asked if this might be his final game against Crosby.

An email, sent from a person working in the corporate sales department, “mistakenly alluded to next year being Alex Ovechkin’s final year,” the Capitals said in a statement posted to X.

"Neither Washington nor Ovechkin has officially announced anything confirming this, though he intends to play out the final year of his contract. At breakdown day, president of hockey operations Brian MacLellan even said he wouldn’t rule anything out when it came to No. 8 regarding a potential extension."