{"id":583127,"date":"2026-04-14T06:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T06:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/583127\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T06:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T06:38:09","slug":"henrik-lundqvist-believes-alex-ovechkin-could-play-another-three-seasons-its-the-commitment-to-the-game-and-the-passion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/583127\/","title":{"rendered":"Henrik Lundqvist believes Alex Ovechkin could play another three seasons: \u2018It\u2019s the commitment to the game and the passion\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of Alex Ovechkin\u2019s<\/a> long-time rivals and short-lived teammates thinks the NHL\u2019s all-time leading goal scorer has several seasons of good hockey left in him.<\/p>\n

Legendary New York Rangers<\/a> goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, once almost a member of the Washington Capitals<\/a>, weighed in on Ovechkin\u2019s future during TNT\u2019s intermission panel on Sunday, partway through the potential final matchup between Ovechkin\u2019s Caps and Sidney Crosby<\/a>\u2018s Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Host Liam McHugh asked Lundqvist whether there was any reason to believe Ovechkin couldn\u2019t stick around for three more years in the NHL.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Lundqvist answered quickly. \u201cA big challenge over time, professional sports, hockey, it\u2019s consistency. And yes, you need a massive commitment to the game, but it starts with the passion for the game. Without the passion of the game, it\u2019s so hard to put in that type of work that these two players have done throughout their careers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no coincidence why [Ovechkin and Crosby are] playing so well at this point, being at this age. It\u2019s the commitment to the game and the passion for the game. You see it in how they prepare, but you see it how they play the game. I love to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now in the final year of his contract with the Capitals, Ovechkin has repeated many times this season that his love for the game and for his teammates is as high as ever. The 40-year-old winger announced last week<\/a> that he will wait until the offseason to decide if he\u2019ll retire, still uncertain about whether he wants to come back for another year.<\/p>\n

Lundqvist made his NHL debut during the same 2005-06 season as Ovechkin and Crosby, finishing fourth in Calder Trophy voting as Rookie of the Year behind Ovechkin, Crosby, and Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf. He played 15 seasons in the NHL for the Rangers, many in the same division as Ovechkin and Crosby, before signing a one-year contract<\/a> with the Capitals in October 2020. Unfortunately, he underwent open-heart surgery shortly after signing the contract, and his health ultimately forced him to retire<\/a> without playing for the Caps.<\/p>\n

Given how many games Lundqvist played against Ovechkin and Crosby, two of the game\u2019s greatest-ever players, it\u2019s no surprise that they did a ton of damage against him while he was in net for the Rangers. After Ovechkin and Crosby posed with Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang for a photo before Sunday\u2019s game<\/a>, the TNT panel made sure to remind Lundqvist of how many goals the three forwards scored on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat picture that we showed you there, the answer to a trivia question, if you want to know three of the four players anyway, the players with the most goals against Henrik Lundqvist,\u201d McHugh said. \u201cOvi and Sid tied for the lead, and then Evgeni Malkin<\/a>\u00a0right behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ovechkin and Crosby tied for the lead with 24 goals each against Lundqvist in their careers, while Malkin comes behind them with 20 markers against The King.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, boy, here we go,\u201d Lundqvist said. \u201cGreat to be back, everyone. I was thinking in my head, that\u2019s a great photo. I would love that photo. But after that stat, I don\u2019t want that. I\u2019m going to burn it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Alex Ovechkin\u2019s long-time rivals and short-lived teammates thinks the NHL\u2019s all-time leading goal scorer has several…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-583127","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}