Alex Ovechkin signs five-year extension with Washington

Alex Ovechkin will remain a member of the Washington Capitals for five more seasons.

The team announced on Tuesday that they’ve agreed to a five-year, $47,500,000 contract with the future Hall of Famer, giving him an annual cap hit of $9,500,000.

This is just the third contract that Ovechkin has signed in his NHL career. The No. 1 overall pick from the 2004 draft signed an entry-level deal in 2005 after the end of the lockout and then a 13-year extension in January of 2008 while he was halfway through his 65-goal season.

Throughout his career, Ovechkin has played 1,197 games, he’s scored 730 goals, and he has 1,320 points. He helped the Capitals win their first-ever Stanley Cup back in 2018 and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player in the playoffs. He’s also won the Rocket Richard Trophy nine times and the Hart Trophy three times.

Most recently, Ovechkin scored 24 goals over 45 games for the Capitals in 2021, a 44-goal pace over 82 games.

The big story at this point in his career is whether or not Ovechkin can break Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal record. Ovechkin currently sits sixth all-time in goals with 730. With one more goal, he’ll catch Marcel Dionne, with 11 goals, he’ll catch Brett Hull, and with 36 goals, he’ll catch Jaromir Jagr.

He needs to score 165 more goals to break Gretzky’s record of 894. That’s an average of 33 goals per season over this five-year contract.