Alexander Ovechkin mum on future after Capitals are eliminated by Bruins

Alexander Ovechkin doesn’t want to talk about his future just yet.

His season ended Sunday night with the Capitals’ 3-1 loss to the Bruins in Game 5 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series. Washington lost four in a row after winning Game 1 in overtime. Ovechkin’s 13-year, $124 million contract is up.

He didn’t want to discuss his pending free agency following the loss.

“We just lost in a playoff series,” Ovechkin said, per JJ Regan of NBC Sports Washington. “Let’s talk about my contract and stuff later on.”

That was a fair response from Ovechkin considering that he hadn’t been off the ice an hour before this question was asked. At the same time, as long as Ovechkin remains silent, Capitals fans may worry that he could sign elsewhere during the 2021 NHL offseason.

Washington coach Peter Laviolette, however, sounded confident that Ovechkin will want to return.

“Well, I like to think he’s going to be back,” Laviolette said, per Samantha Pell of The Washington Post. “This is his team.”

Ovechkin has been the face of the Capitals for 16 seasons since being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2004 NHL Draft. He has won three Hart trophies and a Stanley Cup in Washington, so it’s hard to imagine him leaving.

Either way, Ovechkin’s contract status may not be resolved for a while. As Newsday’s Ted Starkey pointed out, Ovechkin could wait to sign a contract until after the June 21 expansion draft for the Seattle Kraken, as waiting would benefit Washington.

Ovechkin can re-sign with the Capitals at any point before or after the NHL’s July 28 free agency start date, but if he still isn’t signed long after the expansion draft wraps up, then that would be the time to raise the alarm.

For now though, there’s no reason to read much into Ovechkin’s lack of desire to talk about his pending free agency.

After all, it’s something he hasn’t really had to think about for 16 years.

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