Alex Ovechkin retirement email controversy, explained

Yahoo

29-05-2025

Welcome to FTW Explains: a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world. Are you wondering about a retracted Washington Capitals email announcing Alex Ovechkin's final season? And you're confused? We got you covered.
Alex Ovechkin will turn 40 years old before the 2025-26 NHL season begins. Already a Stanley Cup Champion and the league's record-holder for all-time goals scored, it's been clear for awhile now the Great 8's career wouldn't last much longer.
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On Thursday, hockey fans everywhere were told Ovechkin had one season left in him. The Washington icon would hang up his skates for good after the 2025-26 campaign. It felt like a trustworthy report, too, since the news was anticlimactically announced with a single line in an email to season ticket holders.
But while the email was real, the contents were incorrect. Let us explain.
Wait, what? The Capitals sent out an email that Ovechkin was retiring after next season and then immediately walked it back?
Yep. That seems to be what happened here. An email went out to season ticket holders purporting October 2025 as the start of Ovechkin's final season. Many media outlets ran with the story, naturally, as the news came from the team itself.
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However the announcement felt off.
Full disclosure: this was going to be a post about how weird it was that the news was broken via email to season ticket holders as opposed to say, the a big splash from the NHL, a major insider like Darren Dreger, Capitals owner Ted Leonsis or, obviously, Ovechkin himself.
We learned why shortly after. The email was apparently sent as a mistake.
A mistake!?
Hey, it happens!
DC Backcheck's Sammi Silber got to the bottom of this all rather quickly. Silber confirmed with the team the email was incorrect.
"An alleged marketing email went out to Capitals fans today saying this will be Alex Ovechkin's final NHL season. Got word from the team that this is NOT accurate and nothing was sent," Silber reported.
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"Neither Washington nor Ovechkin has officially announced anything confirming this, though he intends to play out the final year of his contract. At breakdown day, president of hockey operations Brian MacLellan even said he wouldn't rule anything out when it came to No. 8 regarding a potential extension."
Have the Capitals said anything publically?
Yep. They quickly jumped online to confirm the email "mistakenly alluded to next year being Alex Ovechkin's final year".
Give it to us straight: Is Ovi retiring in 2025-26 or what?
Who knows!? At this point it truly seems no decision has been made.
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"When he is ready to announce what's next, he will," Silber wrote. "He returned to Moscow, but that is routine for the 39-year-old every offseason. Still, as he pushes 40 and as the Capitals prepare for the next era without him, expect he and coach Spencer Carbery to discuss what exactly his role will be next year and if his minutes will start to cut back."
What we can say is that Ovechkin's contract expires at the end of next season. And while it seems impossible to imagine Ovi playing anywhere other than in Washington, surely hockey fans felt the same before seeing Gordie Howe playing for the Whalers, Ray Bourque playing for the Avalanche or Martin Broduer playing for the Blues.
Ovechkin has accomplished just about all he can on the ice throughout his career. He deserves to have the final say in how his time in the NHL ends. And when that time comes, fans should get to hear it from him — whether or not they have Caps season tickets.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Alex Ovechkin retirement email controversy, explained