Capitals brass doesn’t expect Alex Ovechkin’s ‘motivation level changing whatsoever’ despite now owning NHL goals record

Two of the key men behind the wheel for the Washington Capitals expect the team’s captain, Alex Ovechkin, to keep making noise in the NHL despite ownership of one of the top individual records in sports.

Capitals general manager Chris Patrick and head coach Spencer Carbery spoke with NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti earlier this week, and both agreed that Ovechkin still has more to give despite breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record this past April.

“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 said. “You never count out or bet against Alex Ovechkin or cap him at certain expectations.”

“He defies logic and Father Time and everything else,” Patrick added. “So, I honestly don’t know what to expect with him. Nothing will surprise me because I’ve learned that you can’t be surprised by this guy because he’s just one of one.”

Ovechkin finished the 2024-25 campaign with an impressive 44 tallies despite missing 40 days with a fractured fibula, leaving his career total at 897 goals – three shy of becoming the first player in league history to reach 900.

And that’s not the only milestone he could claim in his age-40 season. He’s nine games from becoming the 23rd player in NHL history to play in 1,500 career games and also 19 points from passing Joe Sakic for 10th-most all-time (1,641).

While more individual glory likely awaits him, Carbery and Patrick believe Ovechkin is more focused on lifting a second Stanley Cup. The Capitals finished atop the NHL’s Eastern Conference with 111 points last season – just a year removed from squeaking into the playoffs in 2023-24 with 91 points – but fell in the second round to the Carolina Hurricanes, extending the franchise’s seven-year drought since winning it all in 2018.

“I think he was really disappointed after the Carolina series,” Carbery assessed. “He 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 want to win that hockey game, and he’s going to want to put the puck in the back of the net.”

Ovechkin recorded six points in 10 playoff games (5g, 1a) with only one being notched in the series against Carolina (a power-play goal in a 5-2 Game 4 loss). He told reporters after losing the series, “It’s tough, but that experience that we have this year is going to help for the future a hundred percent.”

“He’s got [a] 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 told Gulitti. “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.”

Ovechkin confirmed their assessments of his mindset earlier this summer. He told Russian sports tabloid “Mash on sports” he wants to “play well and try to win the Stanley Cup” this season in an August 9 locker room interview after the Ovi Cup gala match in Moscow.

The 2025-26 campaign will be Ovechkin’s last under contract for the Capitals, and he’s said any decisions on his potential retirement from the NHL will come after the season. He’s expected to return to the United States from Russia in early September for training camp.

“Everything is fine, we are preparing with a positive attitude and a good mood,” Ovechkin said in August.