Ovechkin comments on his future in Washington

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T. Tadi
May 25, 2021 (8:49)

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After going through the regular season and finishing second place in the NHL's East Division, the Caps find themselves eliminated after just five games and trying to piece together what went wrong.

"We play all season long for it, playing for a Stanley Cup,» captain Alex Ovechkin said. «It's hard to lose. Nobody wants to lose, right? We try do best what we can. Obviously, we can do better. It sucks. It's a bad feeling when you know you have a pretty good team."

One of the biggest questions for Washington this offseason is what happens to Ovechkin, who has been the team's franchise player since entering the league in 2005-06 and putting up 106 points. Ovi has now completed a 13-year contract, that wouldn't be able to be signed under the league's current rules, which paid him an average annual value of $9.54 million. The Great 8 didn't want to talk about it Sunday night.

"We just lost in a playoff series," Ovechkin said. "Let's talk about my contract and stuff later on."

However, Caps head coach Peter Laviolette believes the 35-year-old will be back in Washington next season.

"I'd like to think he's going to be back,» Laviolette said. «This is his team."

There has been plenty of talk that Ovechkin would like to end his professional career by going back to Russia and playing for his hometown team of Moscow Dynamo in the KHL. However, that's not likely to happen right now. I would put money on Ovi being back in the NHL next year, but the big question is which jersey will he be wearing when the season starts.

Source: Washington Post