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Ovechkin said his relationship with Leonsis is one catalyst for his long tenure with the Capitals.
“He was open to me and to my family right away. A great human being. Funny, too,” he said. “He gave me lots of advice and helped me a lot during my career, because there were ups and downs. He was a big part of that success I had mentally, on the ice and off the ice.”
Ovechkin has rarely had ups and downs statistically, scoring over 40 goals in 12 of his 18 seasons. The same couldn’t be said about the Capitals.
There were some crisis-of-conscience seasons for the franchise in the decade before their Stanley Cup breakthrough in 2018. There were first-round playoff exits, criticisms of their style of play and concerns that their “Young Guns” core should be broken up because it couldn’t win. In 2014, The Hockey News went so far as to argue that Ovechkin leaving for Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League would be “a blessing in disguise” for Washington: “If he wants to, the last thing the Caps should be doing is persuading him otherwise.”
Was there ever a moment when Ovechkin was worried that he wouldn’t be a Capital at this stage of his career?
“Not really,” he said. “I think the way the relationship between my family and the organization goes, I didn’t even think to be with a different team. But I’ve always said that it’s a business. I don’t know what’s happening upstairs in the office with the GM and the owner. I think any player wants to stay as long as possible with one team.”
The fans
When he arrived in the NHL, Ovechkin stayed in Washington, D.C., for his first couple of months before getting a house in Arlington, Va. He and his family eventually settled in McLean, Va., purchasing a home in 2012. He has become part of the community, to the point where he was a man on the street interview for a local TV station while getting gas before a snowstorm.
Ovechkin is considered one of the greatest athletes to ever play professional team sports in D.C. An NBC Sports Washington ranking had him first overall, ahead of Washington football Hall of Famers Darrell Green and John Riggins as well as NBA legend Wes Unseld.
He said he’s enjoyed interacting with Washington’s other sports stars.
“We have a really good relationship with everybody,” he said. “When the Nationals were winning the championship, it was a good moment for D.C. and for each other. Because we supported each other.”
Ovechkin’s relationship with Capitals fans has been endearing. Leonsis credits his star with helping the Capitals become “a top-six or -eight ticket-selling team.”
When he partied with the Stanley Cup, the fans partied with him. Making shirtless “water angels” in a Georgetown fountain. Doing keg stands atop hockey’s holy grail. On stage at The Mall with his teammates, where he addressed the fans: “We’re Stanley Cup champions! It’s yours! Boys and girls and babes! Let’s go!”
While Capitals fans have watched Ovechkin grow up, he said he’s also watched the fans grow up around him, too.
“I’m the oldest player in the organization. I have a couple of friends now who have kids that are like 18 years old,” he said. “I remember them when they were young. And now they’re cheering for us from the stands.”
Ovechkin’s relationship with some local fans became more complicated recently. The Moscow native has been an ardent supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin over the years. In 2017, he campaigned on behalf of Putin by starting a social media movement called Putin Team, writing, “I never made a secret of my attitude toward our president, always openly supporting him.” His Instagram profile photo features him posing with Putin.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cast that support in a new light for many fans. The Washington Post reported on Capitals fans that were conflicted with their support of Ovechkin and their opposition to the war.
“We’ve seen the Caps fail, and we’ve seen them win … and we’re always rooting for them. It takes away from the entire community, because now we’re divided,” Maryna Baydyuk, a Ukrainian who is president of United Help Ukraine, told the Post in May. “We have fans that say that Ovechkin needs to leave the team. We have fans that are now saying, ‘We don’t know.’ We have fans that are saying we support Ovechkin and the team. Now you have this division.”
Ovechkin decided to hold a press conference this past spring to address those concerns.
“He’s my president. But like I said, I’m not in politics. I’m an athlete. I hope everything is going to be done soon. It’s a hard situation right now for both sides,” Ovechkin said, while attempting to express an anti-war sentiment. “Please, no more war. It doesn’t matter who is in the war — Russia, Ukraine, different countries — we have to live in peace.”
Did he feel that relationship with the fans change due to Russia’s invasion and his support of Putin?
“No. They’re fans. They support the team. I’m with them,” he said in October. “It doesn’t matter which sport. It doesn’t matter who the player is. They support the team, not the player.”
The goals
Ovechkin’s current scoring pace has him around the 40-goal mark again. He’s within range of Howe on the all-time NHL goals list, as the Hall of Famer is second overall at 801 goals. Then comes Wayne Gretzky’s mark of 894 goals.
“It’s incredible,” New Jersey Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “To tell you the truth, there are certain guys that have the longevity. When you look at his body mass, how strong he is, you understand why he can play this long.”
Ruff has coached against Ovechkin every season of his career, as a head coach or an assistant coach. He calls the Capitals captain’s goal-scoring remarkable.
“I think the fact that he can sling the puck the way he slings it … he’s got a skill that nobody else has. And he still has that skill at his age,” Ruff said. “I think maybe speed-wise, maybe not quite as fast, but you see that with a lot of players that have been around. You take a Jagr. You take a Chara. They still have that one skill that’s better than any player on their team.”
Does Ovechkin have a favorite goal?
“No, they’re all goals. All my favorites,” he said.
Even the empty-netters?
“Of course. If you think it’s easy to score them, it’s not,” he said. “The other team has a man advantage. They’re putting pressure on you. It’s kind of hard. Sometimes I’m out there and sometimes I’m not. But if I’m out there, my No. 1 priority is not to let the opposite team score.”
Mark Howe believes Ovechkin will eclipse his father’s career goals mark — and that of Gretzky.
“To set these records, you have to have three things,” he said. “Obviously, you have to have a love and a passion to play. Breaking records is one thing, but you play because you love to play the game. Second, Ovi’s strength is scoring. I’ve seen a lot of scorers that put the puck in the net like nobody can, but after a while the puck starts hitting the crest instead of the corner of the net. I haven’t seen that with Ovi yet.”
“And the third thing is that there’s so much money in the game now. Back then, guys had to play to support their families. Some guys now, after a while get satisfied with what they made financially and their drive lets down a little bit. But that hasn’t happened with Ovi.”
Ovechkin signed a five-year, $47 million extension in July 2021 that will keep him in Washington through 2025-26. He said he believes that breaking the records ahead of him will take care of itself as long as he remains focused on his task with the Capitals.
“I have to do my job,” he said. “I have to play well. I have to score goals.”
Additional reporting by ESPN’s Emily Kaplan.
