Ovechkin pauses retirement decision

Alex Ovechkin could have made this a farewell tour months ago, but on April 8 he said he will wait until the offseason to decide whether he plays again, with his health deciding it. He said it after finishing the final year of the five-year contract he signed with Washington in July 2021. (nhl.com, nhl.com) That answer lands differently because Ovechkin is not chasing one last milestone anymore. On April 6, 2025, he scored career goal No. 895 against the New York Islanders and passed Wayne Gretzky for the most regular-season goals in National Hockey League history. (nhl.com, nhl.com) He is now 40 years old and 21 seasons into a career that started after Washington drafted him first overall in 2004. The National Hockey League player page lists him at 928 regular-season goals and 1,570 regular-season games through April 8, 2026. (nhl.com) The combined total is even bigger than the record everyone knows. National Hockey League reporting on his decision says he has 1,005 goals across the regular season and playoffs, which is like filling two separate record books and then stacking them together. (nhl.com) Washington has been living in this maybe-last-season mood for a while. On March 6, 2026, after longtime teammate John Carlson was traded to the Anaheim Ducks, Ovechkin called it the toughest day of his career and said he was uncertain about his own future. (nhl.com) That uncertainty is tied to what his body can still handle, not to whether he still likes hockey. Before this season began on October 7, 2025, he said he still loved the game even as he entered his 21st National Hockey League season. (nhl.com) He was still productive this season, which is why the decision is not automatic. His National Hockey League stats page shows 31 goals and 61 points in 79 games in 2025-26, numbers most 40-year-old forwards never reach. (nhl.com) So the offseason question is no longer whether Ovechkin did enough to secure his place in hockey history. The question is whether the National Hockey League’s all-time regular-season goals leader thinks his health gives him one more year after a Stanley Cup, nine Maurice “Rocket” Richard goal-scoring trophies, and two decades as the face of the Capitals. (nhl.com, nhl.com)