Great Eight not one and done as Capitals refute Ovechkin retirement rumour
It doesn't sound like next season will be a retirement tour for Alexander Ovechkin after all.
Article content
The hockey world went into a frenzy when word got out that a Washington Capitals staffer soliciting season ticket sales sent an email saying Ovechkin would call it quits after the 2025-26 NHL season.
Article content
But the Capitals clarified matters Thursday, tweeting: 'No decision has been made on Alex Ovechkin's future following the 2025-26 NHL season. An email was sent from an individual with the corporate sales department that mistakenly alluded to next year being Alex Ovechkin's final year.'
Article content
No decision has been made on Alex Ovechkin's future following the 2025-26 NHL season.
An email was sent from an individual with the corporate sales department that mistakenly alluded to next year being Alex Ovechkin's final year.
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) May 29, 2025
Article content
Article content
Ovechkin, who turns 40 in September, passed Wayne Gretzky this spring to become the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer, so it made some sense that he might be ready to retire after likely cracking the Top 15 for games played next year.
Article content
But Ovechkin is still producing at an elite level. He scored 44 goals in 65 games, coming back from a severe injury to break Gretzky's mark, and had five goals in 10 playoff games for Washington.
Article content
A superior leader in the locker room, the League, and throughout our local community. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/FlULuT9dvY
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) May 23, 2025
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Globe and Mail
27 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
Bruins name former winger Marco Sturm head coach
The Boston Bruins hired Marco Sturm as coach on Thursday to help the Original Six franchise get back to the playoffs after missing them for the first time since 2016. The Bruins picked the 46-year-old German to replace interim coach Joe Sacco, who took over from Jim Montgomery in November and led the team to a 25-30-7 record — much of it after a trade deadline roster purge. Sturm, who spent the past three seasons as head coach of the AHL's Ontario Reign and coached Germany to a silver medal at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics, is a former Boston player — just like Bruins president Cam Neely and general manager Don Sweeney. 'Boston has always held a special place in my heart, and I know how much this team means to the city and to our fans,' said Sturm, who was a Bruins left wing from 2005-10. 'I've felt that passion as a player, and I can't wait to be behind the bench and feel it again. I'm excited to get to work and do everything I can to help this team succeed.' A three-time Olympian and first-round NHL draft pick who played most of his 14 seasons for the San Jose Sharks and Bruins, Sturm scored 242 goals with 245 assists in 938 career games and is No. 2 on the league's all-time scoring list for players born in Germany. As a coach, he worked as a Los Angeles Kings assistant guiding the Reign, the Kings' AHL affiliate, to a 119-80-11-6 record and three playoff appearances. 'His path — playing for multiple NHL teams, coaching internationally, and leading at both the AHL and NHL levels — has shaped a well-rounded coach who's earned this opportunity,' Sweeney said. 'As a former Bruin, he understands what this team means to the city and our fans. We're embracing a new direction with Marco behind the bench and are confident his energy, standards, and commitment to a competitive, hard-nosed brand of hockey reflect exactly what Bruins hockey should be.' Sacco, a Bruins assistant and former Colorado Avalanche head coach, replaced Montgomery 20 games into this season, but with the team unable to challenge for a playoff berth Sweeney traded away captain Brad Marchand and other veterans, and the Bruins stumbled to a 33-39-10 record overall, tied for the worst record in the Eastern Conference. Only three teams in the league were worse, and CEO Charlie Jacobs said after the season that the results were 'absolutely unacceptable' and apologized to the fans for the performance. 'We owe you a better team, and we aim to deliver a better team,' he said after the season. 'I share your disappointment and, frankly, embarrassment on how poorly things played out over the course of this season.' Sacco was a candidate for the permanent job. Others who reportedly received consideration were Washington Capitals assistant Mitch Love, former Chicago Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson and Bruins assistant Jay Leach. Montgomery, 55, was 120-41-23 in two-plus seasons in Boston. The Bruins finished with more than 100 points in each of his first two years — including a record-setting debut, when their 65 wins and 135 points were both the most in NHL history. But the team lost in the first round of the playoffs that season and advanced to only the second round last year. The struggles carried over into an 8-9-3 start this season before Montgomery was fired. He was hired five days later by the St. Louis Blues and was given a five-year contract; the Blues reached the playoffs and lost in the first round in seven games to the Winnipeg Jets. Boston never improved under Sacco. Heading into the trade deadline with a three-game losing streak that left them at 28-28, the Bruins traded Marchand — the only remaining member of their 2011 Stanley Cup championship team — along with forwards Justin Brazeau, Marc McLaughlin, Trent Frederic and Charlie Coyle and defenseman Brandon Carlo. And they left Sacco on the bench to ride it out. The depleted roster lost 10 straight games — the team lost only 12 in its record-setting 2022-23 season under Montgomery — and fell from possible playoff contender to the NHL draft lottery. Despite the disappointment, the Bruins signed Sweeney to a two-year contract extension, with Neely saying it would help to have stability in the front office during the coaching search. 'I am confident in the plan he has followed these past few months — and excited for what's to come for our team,' the former Bruins forward said of the former Bruins defenseman. 'The expectations in Boston have always been clear. It's about winning championships.'
CBC
40 minutes ago
- CBC
For Wes Anderson, family is at the heart of every film
Q with Tom Power Julianna Romanyk 'Somehow the people you know best keep sneaking into it,' says Anderson Wes Anderson never intended to write his friends and family into his movies — but it keeps on happening anyways. Max Fischer, the jack-of-all-trades failing student in Rushmore, was a combination of himself and his frequent collaborator Owen Wilson. Now, his new film The Phoenician Scheme is about Zsa-Zsa Korda, a tycoon who is heavily inspired by Anderson's father-in-law. The movie follows Korda as he undertakes a massive construction project, and trains his daughter Liesl to take over his international business. WATCH | Wes Anderson's full interview with Tom Power: "When you write a movie, it becomes more personal as it goes along," Anderson tells Q 's Tom Power in an interview. "It begins with research, and you think you're going to tell a story that's about historical figures.… But somehow the people you know best keep sneaking into it. "And that's what happened with my father-in-law, Fouad, who died two years ago. He was an engineer and a businessman. And he had all these different projects, mostly in the Middle East. And there are aspects of his life that found their way into the movie, in particular his organization of his projects into shoe boxes. But also his aura, and his manner. He was a gentle person, very wise… but he also was spectacularly intimidating." From Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums to Fantastic Mr. Fox and Moonrise Kingdom, Anderson's coming-of-age stories have become a hallmark of his unmistakable style. For him, adolescence and early adulthood feel more pure and vivid than other stages of life. "There's an urgency in the way somebody younger communicates, and how they pursue the things that they want that gets diluted in time," says Anderson. "And maybe that's part of what kind of appeals to me about a character like [Liesl]." The other theme in common among Anderson's movies is familial relationships. He says it's not intentional: it just naturally comes up when he's creating casts of characters. "Maybe most stories have something to do with a family dynamic," Anderson says. "Even if it's a metaphorical version of a family dynamic, you still can trace it back to the childhood home a bit. One movie after another, I've had scripts that have to do with families. I mean, it's not like I made a choice." With so many big movies under his belt, Anderson definitely knows how to run a film set. Mia Threapleton, who plays Liesl in The Phoenician Scheme, described the experience as being like "the best summer camp ever." Anderson recognizes that it's essential to make sure the actors have fun. WATCH | Official trailer for The Phoenician Scheme: "They are the ones who you're glued to during the movie, so I am conscious of, 'We've gotta look after these people,'" Anderson explains. "I feel like if we're not having fun doing it, it's not actually gonna turn out that well.… It's hard to make a movie. Especially — we tend to be doing something that's kind of bigger than we even have the means to do. And so I look for ways to make it efficient and fun at the same time.… Things to make it fun to play." When aspiring and established directors inevitably ask Wes Anderson for his wisdom, he quotes the best advice he got from the filmmakers who came before him. He shares a line that was passed down to him by Paper Moon director Peter Bogdanovich, who got it from the director of the original The Little Shop of Horrors movie, Roger Corman. "One shot at a time," says Anderson. "Don't try to understand the whole movie at once. Do the preparation, but when it comes time to make the movie, focus on the one thing you're doing." Wes Anderson also offers a piece of advice based on his own experiences. Over the years, he's seen the difference between going back to the editing room with all the footage he needs, versus trying to put something together with a shot that didn't go the way he wanted. He says it's made him obsessive about what he shoots on set. "The other thing I would say is, 'Remember that you probably aren't going to have a chance to do it again'," Anderson says. "This is your chance." The full interview with Wes Anderson is
National Post
an hour ago
- National Post
Rory McIlroy breaks down his first round with new driver at RBC Canadian Open
CALEDON, Ont. — Following a highly publicized failed driver test at the PGA Championship three weeks ago, Rory McIlroy is working in a new driver this week at the RBC Canadian Open. Article content 'It was my first outing with a new driver and I felt like that went pretty well,' he said after a lacklustre one-over 71 at TPC Toronto on Thursday. 'I hit some drives that I liked and that I liked to see, so that was encouraging.' Article content Article content McIlroy's TaylorMade Qi10 failed USGA testing ahead of the season's second major, the fallout from which, he explained on Wednesday, was a major reason he didn't speak to media at Quail Hollow at any point during the championship. Article content I asked Rory about his curious decision not to speak to media after any round at PGA Championship last month. Thought he explained himself well. My column in today's @TheTorontoSun: 👉 — Jon McCarthy (@jonmccarthySUN) June 5, 2025 Article content This week in Caledon, Ont., he is debuting a TaylorMade Qi35 and, despite some encouraging results with his new driver, the five-time major champ couldn't take advantage of soft conditions on a wet, soggy morning at Canada's national open. Article content 'Weather permitting, if it holds off, I'll go hit some balls,' he said. 'It's hard with the driver, like with the one I had been playing with previously, when I missed with it, I was a little bit left. Then my miss with this one is a little bit right. It's just trying to figure that out and manage it a little bit.' Article content The driver had been McIlroy's greatest weapon throughout his entire career and it only has gotten better as the years have gone by. It is vital for the Northern Irishman's chances this week — and, more importantly, next week at the U.S. Open — that he figures out how to get the most out of his new weapon. Article content 'It's a nice feeling to get up the middle of the fairway and fully release it and know it's not going to go left on you,' he said. 'Yeah, a little bit of practice this afternoon and get ready for tomorrow.'
