📸: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
Alex Ovechkin is doing his final workouts of the summer before flying back to Washington, DC on September 5.
According to his close friend, Gus, Ovechkin’s going to once again be a handful to play against this year, despite being weeks away from turning 40.
“@nhl be ready beast coming soon,” Gus wrote on his Instagram Story.
The videos show Ovechkin running in Moscow and doing medicine ball work in the gym with his personal trainer, Pavel Burlachenko.
Ovechkin is coming off his 20th career NHL season, where he scored 44 goals — tied for third-most in the league — despite missing a month due to a broken leg. He became the new NHL goals king on April 6 and helped lead the Capitals to the best record in the Eastern Conference.
Ovechkin’s performance was especially notable considering his age. In November, he became the oldest player in NHL history to lead the league in goals at any point during a season (min. 10 goals) and the fourth-oldest player ever to lead his team in goals by season’s end.
The veteran winger also broke a record last set in 1979 in the playoffs. With his Game 1 overtime winner against the Montreal Canadiens, Ovechkin became the oldest NHL player to score an OT playoff goal and register three points in the same playoff game.
Several milestones will be within Ovechkin’s reach when the puck drops on the new season. He is three goals away from becoming the first player in NHL history to reach 900 goals and nine appearances away from reaching the 1,500 game milestone. Ovechkin (3,742) is also 287 hits away from Cal Clutterbuck’s NHL record of 4,029.