Ryan Leonard received a crash course in professional hockey last season after joining the Washington Capitals in April. The 20-year-old winger went straight from college classrooms to jumping on the ice with the legendary Alex Ovechkin.

Ovechkin, at the opposite end of his NHL career, served as an excellent resource for Leonard during the 17 combined regular-season and playoff games the young forward played for the Capitals. Leonard spoke about Ovechkin’s leadership while at the 2025 NHLPA Rookie Showcase at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Wednesday.

“He’s still himself, like you guys see him. But when it’s game time, it’s game time, and he’ll help you,” Leonard said. “He’s always talking to me on the bench, look[ing] at stuff in between periods, computer, iPad on the bench. You guys know he sits in the one spot, so you’re going to see him at some point. But yeah, he’s always talking to you, and he’s a great, great captain.”

Leonard’s very first night as a true member of the Capitals came alongside Ovechkin and other members of the club’s roster out on the town in Boston. The Caps were scheduled to play the Bruins the next night, Leonard’s NHL debut, and the 2023 first-round draft pick showed them around his college campus.

Ovechkin personally texted Leonard to meet up with him and the team at a sushi bar, and the rest of the night went viral on social media, particularly their stop at The Circle Tavern. During their stay, Ovechkin was filmed singing Jakob Chychrun’s new goal song, “Bandz A Make Her Dance,” as players laughed and danced at the bar.

“Just hanging out with those guys, it was pretty cool,” Leonard said then. “Ovi wanted to see where I went to school, so [we] went there for probably 30 minutes to an hour, just to show him, and he loved it.”

Leonard eventually had his full “welcome to the NHL” moment the next day when he walked into the team’s locker room for their morning skate ahead of playing the Bruins.

During his abridged season, he would also witness Ovechkin pass Wayne Gretzky for the most goals all-time, and even tallied his first and only NHL marker in the same game Ovi tied the record.

Gretzky himself made sure to acknowledge Leonard’s accomplishment, congratulating the rookie in the post-game locker room. “895 more and you can pass [Ovechkin],” Gretzky said.

Ovechkin has been captain of the Capitals since January 5, 2010, becoming the third-longest tenured captain in NHL history last season. He is also one of only five European-born captains to ever lead their team to a Stanley Cup championship, joined by Nicklas Lidstrom, Zdeno Chara, Gabriel Landeskog, and Aleksander Barkov.

As he has done with Leonard, Ovechkin has regularly taken younger players under his wing during their first seasons in the league. With his career nearing its end, Ovechkin has particularly focused on building up Tom Wilson, who is the assumed heir apparent to him as the team’s next captain.

“He’s been amazing to me,” Wilson said in 2023. “An amazing leader. He’s taken me under his wing. He’s had lots of conversations [with me] about four or five years down the road or whenever it is about what it means to be a leader, and he’s been fairly vocal with me the last little while about that. Just speaks to his character and how much he cares about his teammates, and I just try to soak it all in.”

Ovechkin’s leadership was recognized in the form of silverware for the first time this past spring, as he was presented the 2024-25 Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award. The award is given annually “to the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice, during the regular season and who plays a leading role in his community growing the game of hockey.”

With the 2025-26 campaign being the final year on Ovechkin’s contract, young players like Leonard will have to soak up as much as they can from their legendary teammate, as he is still undecided about his NHL future beyond this season.