On Wednesday morning, the franchise tapped Alex Ovechkin as its candidate, joining the leaguewide Masterton field. Each year that honor goes to whichever skater most fully embodies dedication to the sport along with sportsmanship and perseverance.
Voting falls to the membership of hockey's accredited press body — the writers' association abbreviated PHWA — an organization RMNB holds no spot in, which leaves us every bit as baffled as you likely are.
At 40, Ovechkin ranks as the league's third-oldest skater this year, which marks his 21st campaign wearing a Washington sweater. Even with the years adding up, and even after a fractured leg a year earlier, he has missed zero games — keeping him on pace to complete every one of the season's 82 games for the initial time since turning 32.
The captain has also paced Washington offensively, piling up 61 points (31g, 30a) across 78 outings — something he last managed back in 2022-23.
He reached the 30-goal plateau on March 31, doing so for a record-setting 20th occasion. In the days leading up to that, he had already notched the 34th hat trick of his career, tallied career goal number 1,000 with regular-season and postseason totals combined, and pulled level with the all-time leader Gordie Howe in seasons of 25 or more goals.
Several additional benchmarks fell to Ovechkin during the earlier portion of the year:
- Becoming the only skater the league has ever seen reach 7,000 career shots
- Recording a 20-goal year for what stands as the second-most such seasons in league annals
- Setting a fresh league mark for home dates that featured at least one goal
- Climbing to fifth-fastest among skaters aged 40-plus to reach 15 goals within a single year
- Joining a list of 11 men in league history with 1,800 combined regular-season and playoff points
- Becoming the seventh skater ever to total 800 points away from home
- Cracking the league's all-time top 10 in points
- Setting the league standard for career goals tallied against a single netminder
- Establishing the league record for goals scored inside one building
- Becoming hockey's first-ever skater to arrive at 900 goals
- Becoming the 24th name to log a career total of 1,500 games played.
Among the rare individual pieces of hardware that have eluded Ovechkin across his remarkable run, the Masterton stands out. A year ago he placed fourth in the balloting for it.
The award has never gone to a Russian skater since it debuted after the 1967-68 season. The only person from Washington ever to claim it is Jose Theodore, who took it home following 2009-10.
The complete pool of 32 names will be trimmed to a trio of finalists, with the eventual winner unveiled once the playoffs are underway.