Ovechkin officially re-signs with the Capitals on a monster contract

This just in, according to the big man himself Washington Capitals captain and franchise icon Alex Ovechkin has officially re-signed with the team. Ovechkin himself made the announcement on social media with a photo of himself and his family showing off his new contract.

Check it out:

This news just confirms what we everyone in the NHL already assumed, that Ovechkin would finish his NHL career in D.C.

UPDATE: NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reports that Ovechkin is coming back on a five year contract worth $9.5 million per season.

That's a LOOOOOOT of money and term for a guy on the wrong side of 30, but... let's get real... it's Ovechkin here. If you're going to open the wallet and bet on one guy it's Ovechkin. I don't blame the Capitals at all for inking Ovechkin to thes deal. He's the face of the franchise forever and has earned every single penny ever paid to him.

Next stop: Wayne Gretzky's all-time NHL goal scoring record.

If Ovechkin averages 33 goals per season over the next five seasons, he'll pass Gretzky. Call me crazy but I think that's very, very do-able. Hell... he may still have a few 40+ goal seasons left in him. If that's the case it won't be a matter of "if" Ovechkin passes Gretzky, it'll be "when". Health is always a concern, especially given the fact that Ovechkin will be 40 years old when this deal expires but Ovechkin is arguably the most durable superstar in NHL history. The truth is that he hasn't really missed much time in his career due to injury. In fact, if it weren't for multiple NHL and NHLPA initiated lockouts and for the COVID-19 pandemic, Ovechkin would have hundreds more NHL games on his resume and would likely be that much closer to passing Gretzky on the all-time goal scoring leaderboard.

As for the Capitals, this move almost certainly guarantees that the team will be in Stanley Cup contention for at least the next five years. I find it hard to believe that they'd enter into a rebuild with Ovechkin and, to a lesser extent, Nicklas Backstrom on the roster. Still, they're an aging team and they'll need some shrewd moves in order to keep themselves at the top of the Metropolitan Division for the next five seasons.