Oshie announces retirement at site of Capitals’ Stanley Cup celebration

WASHINGTON -- T.J. Oshie returned to the scene of one of his most famous celebrations to celebrate the end of his 16-season NHL career with the Washington Capitals and St. Louis Blues.

Oshie announced his retirement with a tear-filled speech at the Washington Harbour on Monday, the seventh anniversary of the Capitals players swimming in the fountains on the Georgetown waterfront after winning the Stanley Cup two days earlier -- June 7, 2018.

“Both emotional in different ways,” Oshie said of the two occasions. “So far, there’s been a lot less alcohol involved. But it really comes full circle.”

Oshie knew this day was coming essentially since the end of last season because of a chronic back injury that forced him to spend this season on long-term injured reserve. The 38-year-old right wing said he had his photo taken taking his skates off following Washington’s series-ending 4-2 loss to the New York Rangers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Capital One Arena last season in expectation that it was likely his final NHL game.

Still, saying, “I’d like to officially announce my retirement,” to conclude his nearly 20-minute speech Monday brought a finality to his career.

“Actually, saying the words out loud at the podium with my family in front of me and the Caps organization and my teammates, all my close friends, it was emotional,” he said. “And I’m so glad that it’s over.”

Oshie was joined at the news conference by his wife, Lauren, daughters Lyla, Leni and Lucy, and son Campbell, along with his mother, Tina, sisters Tawni and Aleah, and his brother, Taylor. Capitals coach Spencer Carbery, general manager Chris Patrick, team president Brian MacLellan and teammates John Carlson and Nicklas Backstrom also were among those in attendance.

Oshie became emotional talking about his family, including his late father, Tim, who died in 2021 after batting Alzheimer’s disease, and teammates such as Backstrom, Carlson, Tom Wilson and captain Alex Ovechkin -- the core of the Capitals’ 2018 Stanley Cup team.

Oshie acknowledged that he suggested holding his retirement announcement on this day, steps away from the fountains where they splashed happily alongside Capitals fans seven years before. The players attended a Washington Nationals game together with the Cup earlier in the day and decided to bring it with them to the Georgetown waterfront afterward.

“We were sitting right up here maybe,” Oshie said, pointing toward the outdoor seating of a nearby restaurant. “And that’s when I decided we should start doing the keg stands or the Cup stands, as we called it, and made sure ‘Ovi’ was the first one to go. And it was hot, and they weren’t getting enough beer to us, and we needed to cool off. And I was like, ‘Boys, I’m going in the fountain. Who’s coming with me?’

“And me and Tom grabbed as many guys as we could and we were like, ‘We’re going swimming. Let’s go.’”

What made it more special to Oshie was that the fans eventually joined in. That’s one of the reasons he wanted to do his retirement announcement with fans in attendance, too.

“It shows how much the fans mean to us, how big a part they are to our success,” Oshie said. “And today’s no different, how big a part they are in my retirement celebration.”

Selected by St. Louis in the first round (No. 24) of the 2005 NHL Draft, Oshie became a fan favorite almost instantly after the trade that brought him to Washington on July 2, 2015. He fit seamlessly onto the Capitals’ first line alongside Ovechkin and Backstrom and onto their top power-play unit.

Oshie approached the game the same way he approached those fountains. He was all in, playing with a physical edge bigger than his listed size of 6-foot, 187 pounds and a relentless work ethic.

Oshie explained during his retirement speech that this approach stemmed from a quote his father, affectionately known as, Coach Osh, and his other youth coaches would post on the locker-room door.

“The quote read, ‘Today I will give all I have for this moment may never come again,’” Oshie said. “That has always stuck with me because that was the only thing I’ve ever had full control over. No amount of skills, size or speed can control how hard I worked and whether I could give 100 percent or not. It was only up to me.

“So, to my family, friends, coaches, trainers, teammates, fans and to the game of hockey, I promise you this: The moment my skates touched the ice, I gave you everything I had.”

Even when lingering back problems limited him to 25 points (12 goals, 13 assists) and 52 games last season, he willed his way to playing in his 1,000th NHL game at the Vancouver Canucks on March 16, 2024. And he helped the Capitals qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs by scoring the winning goal in a 2-1 victory in their regular-season finale against the Philadelphia Flyers to clinch the second wild card from the Eastern Conference.

“He was hanging on by a thread, and all his teammates saw that and recognized that,” Carbery said. “That’s the warrior in him. I remember Game 1,000 in Vancouver, he was trying to play in that game. It was going to be a big moment. He goes out for [the] morning skate and he can’t move.

“All through the afternoon, what a lot of people don’t know, is he’s trying to do everything he possibly can to get his body in a position where he can play a game at 7 o’clock that night.”

Oshie took pride in carrying that “warrior” label into retirement.

“To be remembered that way is a huge honor because, honestly, that was my goal in the way that I played the game,” he said. “I feel very humbled to hear those words and to be remembered that way, but I’ll be the first to give credit to my teammates because I was nowhere near good enough to do it without a group like that.”