Alexander Ovechkin signed one of the richest deals in NHL history on Thursday when the All-Star winger inked a 13-year contract extension with the Washington Capitals worth a reported US$124 million
"I'm happy I stay here," Ovechkin said. "It's my second home. I like the fans. I like the team. I like everything here."
It is the first contract in the history of the National Hockey League over US$100 million, but it's not the longest deal in NHL history. Rick DiPietro signed for 15 years with the New York Islanders. It also doesn't set the record for largest average salary, but it is the league's first contract to guarantee nine digits of income.
risk-taker
"I'm a risk-taker," owner Ted Leonsis said. "And if you're going to make a long-term investment, who else would you do it with?"
The contract will pay Ovechkin US$9 million per year for the first six years and US$10 million per year for the following seven. A limited movement clause begins after several years that will allow Ovechkin to select a handful of teams at the beginning of each season to which he cannot be traded.
And he won't have to pay an agent anything. Ovechkin worked out the details himself in negotiations with Leonsis and general manager George McPhee. The 22-year-old Russian was in the final season of a three-year, entry-level deal.
If he had become a free agent at the end of the season, the Capitals would have had the right to match any offer from another NHL team. Leonsis has long maintained that Ovechkin would remain with the team as the cornerstone of the rebuilding effort to get the team back to the playoffs and eventually win a championship.
goal machine
Ovechkin has scored 130 goals in his two and a half seasons, most among all NHL players over that time span entering Thursday's games. The wing had 52 goals and 54 assists in 2005-06, when he edged Pittsburgh forward Sidney Crosby in the voting for the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie. Ovechkin followed that up with 46 goals and 46 assists last season.
He entered Thursday tied for second in the NHL with 32 goals this season, helping Washington surge to the fringe of the playoff race.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite