{"id":584613,"date":"2026-04-14T23:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T23:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/584613\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T23:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T23:56:11","slug":"ted-leonsis-expected-to-attend-alex-ovechkins-potential-final-nhl-game-against-columbus-blue-jackets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/584613\/","title":{"rendered":"Ted Leonsis expected to attend Alex Ovechkin\u2019s potential final NHL game against Columbus Blue Jackets"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLUMBUS, OHIO \u2014 Washington Capitals<\/a> owner Ted Leonsis is expected to be in attendance at Nationwide Arena for what could be Alex Ovechkin<\/a>\u2018s final game of his NHL career. A team employee was overheard plotting out Leonsis\u2019s arrival at the Capitals\u2019 morning skate, where Ovechkin took the ice with most of his teammates.<\/p>\n

Leonsis, also the owner of the Washington Mystics, was previously in New York City on Monday night for the 2026 WNBA Draft held at The Shed at Hudson Yards.<\/p>\n

Leonsis has long had a close relationship with Ovechkin and is a major reason why the Russian superstar has spent his entire legendary career in DC. In 2008, Leonsis signed Ovechkin to the biggest contract in NHL history \u2014 a 13-year, $124 million contract extension, the NHL\u2019s first $100 million deal. Ten years later, Ovechkin helped the franchise win its first Stanley Cup. He\u2019d later go on to break the league\u2019s all-time goals record in 2025. Leonsis traveled for that game as well.<\/p>\n

Recently, the owner told Capitals Radio\u2019s John Walton he fully supports the captain taking his time to decide whether to keep playing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very, very big decision,\u201d Leonsis said. \u201cHe leads our team in goals and points. He\u2019s played a long, long time, and he\u2019ll do the right thing, but it is a family decision, and so we support him in giving him the time. And the only way he\u2019ll be able to do that is to get away from the game a little bit and spend time with his family, his wife, his mom, his brother, and I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll be communicating a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leonsis last saw Ovechkin at the Capitals\u2019 team photo day, getting an escort from the NHL legend across the ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe jumped up and skated over to make sure I didn\u2019t fall,\u201d Leonsis said. \u201cWe laughed. I said, \u2018It\u2019s the 21st time, I think, 20th time, you made sure I didn\u2019t fall.\u2019 And just his presence, he kind of strolls into the locker room with this big smile on his face, gives you a big hug, and he still loves the game. He loves the team, he loves the community, and it\u2019s so hard to replicate. But all good things come to an end at some point, right? And I have confidence that he\u2019ll make the right decision. Whatever decision he makes, he won\u2019t go at it in a not 110 percent way. I have a lot of confidence in his judgment, and we\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLUMBUS, OHIO \u2014 Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis is expected to be in attendance at Nationwide Arena for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-584613","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\/584613","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=584613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}