Although thrilled with breaking a record he and most of the hockey world previously believed would never be touched, Ovechkin gave no indication he was ready to ride off into the sunset after overtaking Gretzky. If anything, losing in the second round of the playoffs after the Capitals (51-22-9) finished first in the East during the regular season, seemed to leave him wanting more.
Ovechkin had six points (five goals, one assist) in 10 playoff games, but he was held to one point in the five games against the Hurricanes -- a power-play goal in a 5-2 loss in Game 4 -- and Washington fell short of adding a second Stanley Cup championship to the one Ovechkin led it to in 2018.
“I think he was really disappointed after the Carolina series,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said earlier this week. “That was a hard series, especially for our top skill guys, our top offensive players, our power play. So, they take that personal, and [Ovechkin] is not a hard guy to get up and motivate. You know he’s going to have that smile and he’s going to be ready, and when the puck drops, he’s going to, (a) want to win that hockey game, and (b) he’s going to want to put the puck in the back of the net.
“Just because he’s broken the record, I don’t see his motivation level or his determination to try to score and win hockey games changing whatsoever.”
Carbery laughed when asked about their expectations for Ovechkin at 40 years old. They’ve heard the questions about his age before and know it’s folly to try to predict when it will catch up to him.
“That is something that I continue to learn,” Carbery said. “You never count out or bet against Alex Ovechkin or cap him at certain expectations.”
Patrick agreed.
“He defies logic and Father Time and everything else,” Patrick said. “So, I honestly don’t know what to expect with him. … I’ll just be happy to watch it and kind of savoring every time we get to see him go out in a Caps uniform. So, we’ll just see what he does this year.
“Nothing will surprise me because I’ve learned that you can’t be surprised by this guy because he’s just one of one.”
Carbery said he’s communicated with Ovechkin “quite a bit” during the offseason. After vacationing with his family in Turkey, Ovechkin returned to Moscow and resumed training full time in early July. He’s balanced family time and training with various charity games and events in his homeland honoring him for passing Gretzky.
Moscow Dynamo will host another celebration of Ovechkin at its arena Friday. Ovechkin grew up playing in Dynamo's program before the Capitals selected him with the No. 1 pick in the 2004 NHL Draft. He joined Washington for the 2005-06 NHL season.
Ovechkin has talked about possibly returning to Dynamo to play after he’s finished in the NHL, but when remains unknown. He’s within striking distance of more individual NHL milestones: He needs nine games to reach 1,500 for his career, and with 1,623 points, he’s 19 away from passing Joe Sakic (1,641) for 10th in League history.
And, of course, he needs three goals to become the first player to reach 900 in the NHL, a continuation of his record total that would put it further from the reach of potential pursuers.
“He’s got couple more milestones right off the hop here early in the season that are within reach, so I’m sure those are in the back of his mind, and it will be fun to see when he hits those,” Patrick said. “Then I think his focus will turn to more, ‘We want to win as a team and what do I need to do to help the team win?’
“Alex first and foremost wants to win games and win Stanley Cups. I think that was his motivation late in the season right after he broke the record. … and I think that’s what he’d like to do here this season again is try to have a team that can compete for a Cup.”
