Alex Ovechkin picked his moment carefully. Before the Washington Capitals could even host their first home game of the season, the captain told his teammates, and then the world, that 2026-27, his 22nd NHL season, will be his last. He said his family decided over the summer that this would be his final year in the league. For fantasy managers trying to decide whether he still belongs on a roster, the announcement changes the calculus in ways that go well beyond sentiment.
A Farewell Announced Before the Home Opener
Ovechkin has played all 1,575 games of his career in a Washington sweater, and he wanted the retirement news out before puck drop on his home slate rather than let it leak out piecemeal over the winter. The Capitals opened the season on the road and beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes 5-2 on October 2, with new winger Alex Tuch scoring twice in his Washington debut. Ovechkin picked up an assist in that opener and has said he wants to make this final lap special, not just for himself but for a roster that general manager Chris Patrick spent the offseason reshaping specifically to contend one more time around him.
The Record Book Still Has Pages Left
Ovechkin is already the NHL’s all-time leading regular-season goal scorer, having passed Wayne Gretzky’s long-standing mark of 894 back in 2024. He enters this season with 929 regular-season goals, meaning every goal he scores from here out extends his own record rather than chasing anyone else’s. Last season he potted 32 of them, good for 64 points, and extended an almost absurd streak: it was the 21st time in 21 NHL seasons that he has led or co-led the Capitals in goals.
A handful of other milestones are realistically in range for his farewell year:
- Games played: he needs 25 more to reach 1,600, all with one franchise.
- Points: he sits at 1,688, 12 shy of 1,700 and currently 10th all-time, with Mario Lemieux (1,723) and Steve Yzerman (1,755) both within reach ahead of him.
- Capitals assists record: he has 759 helpers, four behind Nicklas Backstrom’s franchise mark of 762, and he already picked one up on opening night.
- 20-goal seasons: he has reached 20 goals in all 21 completed seasons. One more would tie Gordie Howe’s record for the most 20-goal campaigns in league history.
Chasing Gretzky’s Last Number
The one record Ovechkin has not yet claimed is the combined regular-season-and-playoff goals mark, where Gretzky’s total still sits narrowly ahead of him. Analysts who track the chase expect Ovechkin to pass it sometime in the first half of this season, which would make him the undisputed goal-scoring leader by every measure the league keeps. It is the kind of moment that tends to happen in a building full of fans who have watched him do this for two decades, and it is reason enough on its own to keep tabs on Washington’s schedule this fall even if you have no roster stake in it.
Washington Went All In to Send Him Out Right
The front office did not treat this as a ceremonial lame-duck season. Washington landed Alex Tuch in a sign-and-trade with Buffalo and acquired Jordan Kyrou from St. Louis in a deal that sent Connor McMichael to the Blues, then added Boone Jenner and Vincent Desharnais in free agency. Ovechkin himself re-signed on a one-year deal to run it back. The result is a deeper, more skilled group of wingers than Ovechkin has skated with in years, which is also why his own role is shifting. After spending last season on his off wing, he is now projected into a bottom-six left-wing spot, ceding top-line minutes to the new arrivals while the Capitals bet that a lighter 5-on-5 workload keeps him fresher for the power play and for March and April.
The Fantasy Case: Power-Play Specialist, Not Workhorse
None of this makes Ovechkin a must-roster fantasy asset in the way he was a decade ago, but it does not make him a bench stash either. His shooting percentage last season sat right at his career average of roughly 13 percent, and projections from analysts covering the team put him in the 30-to-32-goal range again this year, a total that would still rank among the better output at his position in most season-long formats. The real swing factor is ice time: his 5-on-5 minutes have declined for five straight seasons as Washington leans on its new depth, which means an increasing share of his fantasy production will come in power-play minutes rather than at even strength.
That makes him a better fit for formats that reward power-play goals and points separately, and a trickier hold in standard goals-and-assists leagues where a diminished even-strength role can produce quieter stretches between flurries. Draft him as a complementary piece who can still get hot for two or three goals in a game, not as a floor play you build a lineup around every week. Keeper and dynasty managers have an easier call: this is the last chance to roster a piece of NHL history, and the Capitals have made clear they intend to put him in positions to add to it.
Whatever uniform he is wearing when it happens, Ovechkin is going to keep setting his own records most nights this winter. The only question left for fantasy purposes is how much of that chase shows up on your scoresheet, and the answer now leans more toward the power play than the first line.
See today's NHL lines on DFS Lines, each one set against the player's last ten games.