WASHINGTON — Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin has not made a decision on his NHL future beyond the upcoming 2025-26 NHL season, the team said in a statement Thursday, which came after an email from the team that suggested next season would be Ovechkin’s last.

The email, which was first reported by the Hockey Writers, included a sentence that read “OCTOBER — the start of Capitals hockey and Alex Ovechkin’s FINAL NHL SEASON.” Next season is the final year of Ovechkin’s contract, a five-year deal worth $9.5 million per season that he signed in 2021.

“No decision has been made on Alex Ovechkin’s future following the 2025-26 NHL season,” the Capitals later said in a statement posted to X. “An email was sent from an individual with the corporate sales department that mistakenly alluded to next year being Alex Ovechkin’s final year.”

Ovechkin will be 40 in September. When asked this month at Washington’s season-ending media availability whether he was going to retire this summer, he joked that he instead was going to join the Capitals’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Hershey Bears, for their playoffs.

When it was put to Ovechkin that next season is the last one remaining on his contract, he was more vague about his future.

“To be honest with you, I haven’t thought about it yet, but we’ll see what’s going to happen,” he said. “Obviously, I’m going to try to do my best to be able to do well next year, and, how I said, we’ll see.”

Ovechkin scored 44 goals in 65 games this season despite missing six weeks from mid-November to the end of December with a fractured bone in his left leg. He broke Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goal-scoring record April 6, then scored two more goals down the stretch to finish the year with 897 career goals.

“You never thought how many games you’re going to play. You never think how many goals you’re going to score, because you never know what’s going to happen on the ice,” Ovechkin said. “I was lucky enough this year to be able to score the goals to break the record, obviously, and I’m looking forward for next year. I’m going to be 40, and I’m going to try to do my best to play, and my team is going to help me, too.”

Ovechkin added five goals and one assist in the Stanley Cup playoffs as Washington beat Montreal in the first round and lost to Carolina in the second round. Next season could well be his last in the NHL, but that determination, per the Capitals and per the player himself, hasn’t yet been made.

That leaves Ovechkin’s teammates and coaches waiting to see what he does next.

“I don’t put anything past him, even being 40 years old,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said this month. “When you put that 4 in front (of his age), now it becomes a little bit different, when you hear some of the stats and that. As (former NFL wide receiver) Terrell Owens said, I would get your popcorn ready.”

“He’s still flying out there,” winger Tom Wilson said. “He had an incredible season. I think he probably exceeded expectations and beyond. You can never count that guy out. He’s such a tremendous leader, and I’m sure he’s going to keep buzzing.”