- Alex Ovechkin opens his farewell tour in Carolina, the city where he was drafted first overall in 2004
- He has 111 points in 97 career games against the Hurricanes, his most against any franchise
- Read below for his comments and the farewell handshake lines he is expecting
Alex Ovechkin’s farewell tour starts in Raleigh.
The Capitals captain plays his final regular-season game at Lenovo Center on Tuesday night against the Hurricanes, the first road stop since he announced that 2026-27 will be his last season. Puck drop is 6:45 p.m. ET.
Ovechkin was asked after Washington’s morning skate whether the game carries extra meaning as the first stop on the tour.
“Yeah, obviously I get drafted here,” Ovechkin said. “This is the first road game after I announced it’s going to be my last year. I have such great memories here, drafted first overall. And it’s a special place for me.”
Here is the announcement that set the tour in motion:
The building had a different name when Washington took him No. 1 on June 26, 2004. He still remembers the nerves of that day.
Ovechkin explained that he didn’t know who was going to go first, but that he had a nice time with his family. “Those days you can’t go back, but the memory is still there,” he said.
His Carolina history starts early. Ovechkin scored his first career road goal against the Hurricanes on Oct. 12, 2005, in a 7-2 Caps loss. He said he doesn’t remember much about it, other than that he thinks Andrew Cassels set it up.
Catch his rookie-season goals, including the early ones that started all of this:
The numbers say Carolina is a good place for him. Ovechkin has 111 points (53 goals, 58 assists) in 97 games against the Hurricanes, more than he has against any other team.
He also talked about the postgame handshake lines he expects to see this season. He took part in them for Anze Kopitar last year and Marc-Andre Fleury two years ago.
“We have a battle, we have some rivalries, but respect for each other,” Ovechkin said. “I don’t know how emotional I’m gonna be, but we’ll see.”
Washington needs a bounce-back after losing to the Kraken on Sunday. The Hurricanes are 5-0-0 in their last five games, and Ovechkin is still sitting on goal No. 930.
Carolina also has a lineup issue of its own, with captain Jordan Staal out one to two months with a calf tear.
