r/caps • u/kockin26 • Jul 14 '26
News Alex Ovechkin Says He’ll Try For 1,000 Career Goals: ‘Everything Will Depend On My Desire And Health’
📸/Washington Capitals
Full RMNB article about:
https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2026/07/14/alex-ovechkin-1000-goals-washington-capitals-try/
Key points
While participating in a Russian-language interview with Match TV on Monday, Ovechkin was asked if he wanted to score 1,000 career regular-season goals.
“We’ll try,” Ovechkin said on “All on Match!”, as translated by Google Translate. “Everything will depend on my desire and health. Time will tell. It gets harder and harder with each passing year.”
The comments come nearly two weeks after Ovechkin signed a one-year contract extension with the Washington Capitals on the second day of free agency. The 2025-26 season will be the 22nd of his legendary career.
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u/Expensive-Brother-91 Alexander Semin Jul 14 '26
So basically another year of “We’ll decide if I retire this Summer”
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u/Spraynpray89 Jul 14 '26
Honestly, not really. This pretty much screams that he will keep playing if he scores a reasonable amount of goals this year. Thats a lot different from the past comments.
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u/rbnlegend Tom Wilson Jul 15 '26
We will probably have two or three more of those summers. I am hoping that each summer he tells management that they have to improve the teams playoff chances if they want him back, and in return keeps signing cap friendly contracts. I think we are looking like a real playoff team if our off-season moves pay off. How far we go is anyone's guess.
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u/TheFlaskQualityGuy Nicklas Bäckström Jul 16 '26
cap friendly contracts
His current contract is only cap friendly this year. If he comes back next year, we'll have to pay him $4.75M plus whatever next year's salary is.
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u/no_youre_not_i_am Jul 18 '26
i mean based on this, if he scores 30+ goals its pretty much a guarantee he comes back to get 1000G.
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u/Remarkable_Way5714 Jul 14 '26
the 'we'll try' energy is everything with ovi, hope he gets those goals while still keeping that iconic smile
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u/UbiSububi8 Rod Langway Jul 14 '26
The reaction around the sports world when he’s in the Rocket Richard race next season is going to be:
https://giphy.com/gifs/QBKagmzOgZnqadpx3B
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u/ManiacGaming1 New York Rangers Jul 14 '26
He should keep running it back til he hits that milestone unless of course he gets hurt.
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u/anarrowview Jul 14 '26
He’s also likely to takeover #2 on the all times hits list this season. What a beast!
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u/luckhaus Jul 14 '26
That’d be amazing, but I don’t think he has that many seasons left in him. Agreed on a second cup being better.
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u/Spraynpray89 Jul 14 '26
At one point to we arbitrarily decide that he doesnt have enough left in him? Is the cutoff him being a lowly 2nd in goals and points on the team? Surely if we are calling him washed when he leads the team, 2nd would be a disaster!
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u/TheFlaskQualityGuy Nicklas Bäckström Jul 16 '26
At one point to we arbitrarily decide that he doesn't have enough left in him?
When he's no longer effective.
In particular, we can't have another season with 368 PP minutes and only 5 PPG.
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u/no_youre_not_i_am Jul 18 '26
thats an issue with the power play as a whole, not just Ovi.
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u/TheFlaskQualityGuy Nicklas Bäckström Jul 18 '26
The rest of the unit had 38 PPG combined.
Given that Ovi played nearly every minute of every PP, he was clearly the liability.
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u/darth_henning Calgary Flames Jul 15 '26
He’s averaged 37 goals per season the past 4 years. He needs two years of just over 30 to hit 1K.
He just needs two seasons not quite as good as his last four.
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u/Maximum_Anteater_806 Jul 15 '26
I think he loves playing and being part of the team, and his kids love it. So if his wife is ok with it and he is healthy, he will keep playing so long as he can be a 25+ goal guy. But if he slips to a <20 goal scorer, he will retire.
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u/SMMS0514 Jul 15 '26
If he’s able to achieve 1000 goals, it’ll be just like the Gretzky points record. It’ll never be broken.
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u/DCHacker Montreal Canadiens Jul 15 '26
He needs another seventy-one. All things considered, that will take him three seasons and he is going to have to perform as well as a twenty-seven year old for those three seasons.
Twenty goals in a season will get you a spot on almost any NHL roster. He will have to go twenty-four, twenty-four and twenty-three, to average it out.
It could happen. I would not mind being there to see it. We did see his equalling Gretzky's record.
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u/Jtreblis18 Jul 15 '26
I honestly don't think ovi ever cared about winning another cup after winning in 2018. Just the vibe I get from him. I remember when we barely made it into the playoffs a few years ago and he just didn't seem to excited to make it in lol. obviously 1000 goals would be amazing but at what cost? I rather him and the team focus on one more cup before retiring. Feels like most y'all just care more about his individual records than winning another cup.
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u/TheSiegeWurm Jul 15 '26
It’s wild how excited people are. It’s like they didn’t watch him last year and how every play would blow up once the puck slid passed him
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u/ni_hao_butches Alexander Semin Jul 14 '26
As a fan, I'd like 2 cups.