It was locker clean-out day for the Capitals today after they were eliminated by Carolina earlier this week. At his end-of-season scrum (video link), winger Alex Ovechkin tried to brush aside any speculation about him not returning next season, indicating that he’s going to do his best to play. Ovechkin, of course, broke the all-time goal record this year which has led some to wonder if he might prefer to leave the NHL and perhaps return to finish his career at home. His comment about playing next season should tone that down.
However, with Ovechkin set to enter the final year of his contract in July, he’ll become eligible for a contract extension at that time. He noted that he hasn’t given any thought yet as to whether this would be his last one in the NHL or if he might be open to extending his stay. Considering that it’s quite unlikely that the 39-year-old would entertain NHL offers elsewhere next summer, this is a situation where it makes a lot of sense for both sides to wait and see how things are looking closer to this time a year from now before seriously assessing future plans.
More from Washington:
- Pending unrestricted free agent Lars Eller said in his scrum (video link) that he wants to keep playing next season, especially with his native Denmark qualifying for the upcoming Olympics. The 36-year-old was acquired from Pittsburgh early in the season and played in 80 games overall but managed just 10 goals and 12 assists; his 22 points were his lowest since his rookie year back in 2010-11. Eller might be best utilized as more of a fourth liner moving forward after playing on the third line for most of his career. Accordingly, he’s likely looking at a cut from the $2.45MM price tag he had the last two years.
- In his scrum earlier today (video link), center Aliaksei Protas indicated that he’ll have some testing done on his injured foot to see if any surgery will be required. The 24-year-old suffered the injury late in the regular season and missed the first four games of the Montreal series. This was a breakout year for Protas as he had 30 goals and 36 assists in 76 regular season games while chipping in with a goal and an assist in six playoff outings.
- Pending UFA wingers Anthony Beauvillier and Andrew Mangiapane haven’t had any extension talks yet with management, relays Tarik El-Bashir of Monumental Sports Network (Twitter link). Beauvillier had 25 points in 81 games during the regular season and notched six more in their ten playoff contests, turning into a solid trade deadline pickup overall. Meanwhile, Mangiapane saw his output drop to 14 goals and 14 assists in 81 games after notching at least 40 points in the previous three seasons.