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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s leadership while at the 2025 NHLPA Rookie Showcase at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s still himself, like you guys see him. But when it\u2019s game time, it\u2019s game time, and he\u2019ll help you,\u201d Leonard said. \u201cHe\u2019s 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\u2019re going to see him at some point. But yeah, he\u2019s always talking to you, and he\u2019s a great, great captain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leonard\u2019s very first night as a true member of the Capitals came alongside Ovechkin and other members of the club\u2019s roster out on the town in Boston. The Caps were scheduled to play the Bruins the next night, Leonard\u2019s NHL debut, and the 2023 first-round draft pick showed them around his college campus.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s new goal song, \u201cBandz A Make Her Dance,\u201d<\/a> as players laughed and danced at the bar.<\/p>\n \u201cJust hanging out with those guys, it was pretty cool,\u201d Leonard said then. \u201cOvi 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Leonard eventually had his full \u201cwelcome to the NHL\u201d moment the next day when he walked into the team\u2019s locker room for their morning skate ahead of playing the Bruins<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gretzky himself made sure to acknowledge Leonard\u2019s accomplishment, congratulating the rookie in the post-game locker room<\/a>. \u201c895 more and you can pass [Ovechkin],\u201d Gretzky said.<\/p>\n Ovechkin has been captain of the Capitals since January 5, 2010, becoming the third-longest tenured captain in NHL history last season<\/a>. 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.<\/p>\n 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<\/a>, who is the assumed heir apparent to him as the team\u2019s next captain.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s been amazing to me,\u201d Wilson said in 2023<\/a>. \u201cAn amazing leader. He\u2019s taken me under his wing. He\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n