Screen cap: X/Washington Capitals

Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is back in D.C., for training camp and ready to embark on his 19th NHL campaign. He made his first appearqnce at MedStar on Tuesday. The soon-to-be-38-year-old spent the off-season in Moscow with his family. 

[runs through wall]

𝗢 𝗬𝗔 pic.twitter.com/uxWwDbrNN9

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 5, 2023

The highlight of the summer was when he scored a highlight-reel shootout goal at the Danis Zaripov farewell game, along with hosting the fifth annual “Ovechkin Cup”. 

The great-8 had 75 points (42 goals, 33 assists) in 73 games last year, and currently has 822 career goals, which is 72 goals short of tying Wayne Gretzky’s 894 mark. The Russian superstar had a historic 2022-23 season, becoming the third member of the 800-goal club, and passing Gordie Howe for second-most goals in NHL history.

Ovi also had his 13th 40-goal season, which is now the most in NHL history and is one tally shy of becoming the first player ever to reach 300 power-play goals. He tallied 14 goals on the man-advantage last season and set the record for most power-play goals scored back in the 2021-22 season.

Hope everyone had a #Gr8 long weekend! pic.twitter.com/LVZ1RsTKum

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 5, 2023

The Capitals captain can also become the 16th player in NHL history to reach 1,500 points. He is currently 15 points shy of that mark, sitting at 1,485 career points, which is third among active players.

Capitals coach Spencer Carbery says that Ovechkin is excited and motivated to get his team back into the playoffs and compete for another Stanley Cup.

 “In all the conversations that I’ve had with him, it seems like he’s in a great frame of mind. Since being around him a few years ago, it’s like he hasn’t missed a beat. He’s excited, hungry. Everything that he’s talking about is getting back to the playoffs and winning again and what are we doing to get back to being a playoff hockey team,” Carbery said in an interview with NHL.com.

“You can just feel through the phone and through our conversations his energy and excitement and enthusiasm. I’m just looking forward to getting to work with him this year and getting camp rolling because you can just tell how excited he is about it.”

Other players that joined informal skates today are Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dylan Strome, T.J. Oshie, John Carlson, Nicklas Backstrom, Darcy Kuemper, Nick Jensen, Joel Edmundson and Nic Dowd.

 Training camp kicks off on Sept. 21 at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.

By Jacob Cheris