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If Alex Ovechkin was going to shatter Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record as a member of the Washington Capitals, he had some conditions that needed to be met.
Before re-signing, Ovechkin told Capitals owner Ted Leonsis that he didn’t want to be “a third-line guy playing 8 to 10 minutes a game.” He didn’t want to be someone the team “trotted out on the power play” just to pad his goal totals, according to Leonsis.
Most of all, he didn’t want to play for a rebuilding team. Before signing a five-year contract extension in 2021, he asked Leonsis to promise him that the owner would keep the team competitive, that the Capitals would be the annual playoff contender they had been for most of Ovechkin’s career.
