Carbery confident Ovechkin will play significant role for revamped Capitals

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Spencer Carbery already had begun playing around with new line combinations before the Washington Capitals coach got word Thursday that Alex Ovechkin will be back for a 22nd NHL season.

Ovechkin, who signed a one-year contract ($1 million in salary, a $3.25 million signing bonus and a $4.75 million bonus for playing 10 games), will return to a deeper team than the one he led in goals (32) and points (64) last season.

After missing the playoffs, Washington upgraded its speed and skill on the wing by acquiring three-time 30-goal scorers Jordan Kyrou and Alex Tuch in separate trades on June 23 and 24, respectively, and added some versatility and experience by signing former Columbus Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner to a four-year, $23 million contract ($5.75 million average annual value) on Wednesday.

Carbery wasn't ready to discuss exactly where Ovechkin will fit into the Capitals' reconfigured forward group but expressed confidence that the NHL all-time leader with 929 goals will remain an impact player and presence, even after celebrating his 41st birthday Sept. 17.

"He can still continue to defy odds and be a very productive, good NHL player for the Washington Capitals and help us win a lot of hockey games," Carbery said Friday. "That's the way that I see it going. And then also continue to be the leader that he's been through his career as our captain and continue to help a winning team, hopefully a playoff team, and young players inside of that continue to grow their game and develop and get to the next level.

"That's what I expect from our group."

Carbery noted that it will be a different group after adding not only Kyrou, Tuch and Jenner, but also defenseman Vincent Desharnais, who is expected to play a significant role after signing a four-year, $16.8 million contract ($4.2 million AAV) on Wednesday. The Capitals also signed defenseman Justin Holl ($900,000) and forwards Jonny Brodzinski ($850,000), and Josh Dunne ($850,000) to one-year contracts to fill depth roles.

So there will be a lot of new faces to integrate, similar to the 2024-25 season, after the Capitals added goalie Logan Thompson, forward Pierre-Luc Dubois and defensemen Jakob Chychrun and Matt Roy, among others, and went on to finish first in the Eastern Conference. Carbery credited Ovechkin with helping those players integrate quickly and expects similar from him this season.

"I'm not trying to project how they do or anything like that, but just when they walked through the door, how welcome they felt and how they could be themselves so quickly and just worry about playing hockey and doing their thing and not walking on eggshells and not be nervous around the group, that's Alex Ovechkin," Carbery said. "He has a massive, or plays a massive role, in that being the case.

"So I expect it to be the same of whether it's Alex (Tuch), whether it's Vinny Desharnais, of being able to come in and feel as comfortable as possible right from Day One at camp."

Carbery waited like everyone else while Ovechkin took his time after last season to decide whether to continue playing or retire. He checked in to see how Ovechkin and his family were doing, but said he avoided asking questions like, "What are you leaning towards?"

He said he had two conversations with Ovechkin before he headed home to Russia after the season. The initial one took place in the days after Washington's regular-season finale April 14 and was more a brief discussion about the season and his plans for the offseason.

Carbery said they met again "a few weeks later" to discuss Ovechkin's potential role if he decided to continue playing.

"I just wanted him to be able to leave D.C. and go back home, and, if he was going to play, him and I had a face-to-face conversation about what that would look like and role and our team and my thoughts on what our team was going to look like and where we needed to get better," Carbery said.

Carbery again avoided specifics, but with the Capitals having a deeper forward group, Ovechkin likely will see his role and ice time reduced. That would continue a progression from the past two seasons.

Ovechkin went from playing 19:13 per game in 2023-24, to 17:43 in 2024-25, which was an NHL career-low until he played 17:27 per game last season. But Ovechkin has demonstrated he can still be effective with less ice time, and Carbery believes he can continue to do that, "even if that comes down a little bit (more)."

Ovechkin isn't the only forward likely to see his minutes reduced, though. Carbery also mentioned Tom Wilson (NHL career-high 19:28) and Aliaksei Protas (NHL career-high 18:14), who led Washington's forwards in ice time last season, among those who could play a little less with the hope of getting more quality from their minutes.

"We are going to be able to rely on all four lines way more consistently," Carbery said. "I think people's minutes will come down, which I don't think is a bad thing. From Tom Wilson … if he can come down to 16 (minutes per game) now, how much more effective do you make his minutes on the penalty kill, getting to a loose puck to get it out of the zone? Not necessarily scoring a goal, but it's going to help our whole group.

"So I think we're just a deeper team that now can rely on our depth a lot more often in a game through 84 games."