Nicknamed "The Great 8" in reference to his jersey number and "Ovi" as a shortform of his last name, Ovechkin is widely regarded as one of the greatest ice hockey players of all time.

Ovechkin began his professional career with Dynamo Moscow of the Russian Superleague in 2001, playing there for four seasons and returning briefly during the 2012–13 NHL lockout.

"[9] Early on, Ovechkin did not have a television growing up, but learned of the NHL and its biggest stars like Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Sergei Fedorov through videotapes that showed highlights of goals, hits, and fights.

The deal was a three-year, entry-level contract worth the rookie maximum of $984,200 per season with performance-based bonuses to inflate his annual salary to as much as $3.9 million.

Ovechkin played his first game with the Capitals in the 2005–06 season opener on 5 October 2005, scoring two goals against goalie Pascal Leclaire in a 3–2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

"[21] Auston Matthews, a future Toronto Maple Leafs first overall selection, was in attendance during the game; he said in an interview in November 2016, shortly into the 2016–17 season that it was the best goal he ever saw live.

[39] On 5 February 2009, Ovechkin scored his 200th goal, against Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings, becoming only the fourth player in the NHL to reach the milestone in four seasons, joining Wayne Gretzky, Mike Bossy and Mario Lemieux.

Just over a month into the 2009–10 season, Ovechkin suffered an upper-body injury during a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on 1 November 2009, after a collision with opposing forward Raffi Torres.

At the end of the season, the Dynamo would go on to win the Gagarin Cup, albeit after the NHL lockout concluded and Ovechkin and Bäckström returned to North America in January 2013.

Ovechkin was also a finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award for the fifth time in his career, which was eventually given to Pittsburgh Penguins captain and centre Sidney Crosby.

At the conclusion of the 2013–14 season, Ovechkin had the strange distinction of winning the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy, scoring 51 goals, while going −35, one of the NHL's worst, in the plus-minus statistic.

[73] Ovechkin finished the 2016–17 season playing all 82 games with 33 goals, 36 assists and 69 points to help the Capitals clinch their second consecutive Presidents' Trophy and third in franchise history.

[75] Upon returning to training camp the following season, Ovechkin arrived in Washington two weeks early and predicted: "We're not gonna fucking suck this year [sic]."

[85][86][87] Ovechkin assisted on Evgeny Kuznetsov's game six overtime goal for 4–2 defeat in the series against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion and fourth-seeded Penguins to clinch his first Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 13 seasons.

[88][89] After defeating the Penguins in round two, Ovechkin would face another main rival of his generation in Tampa Bay Lightning centre and captain Steven Stamkos in the Eastern Conference Finals.

[94] He scored the 21st hat trick of his NHL career in a 6–2 win over Detroit Red Wings on 11 December, passing Pavel Bure for most by a Russian-born player in league history.

[103] On 22 February 2020, Ovechkin scored his 700th career goal in the third period of a 3–2 loss against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center, making him the eighth player in NHL history to accomplish the feat.

[104] The 2019–20 season ended three weeks early due to restriction surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, so Ovechkin and Boston Bruins forward David Pastrňák were named co-winners of the Rocket Richard Trophy, with each having 48 goals at the time.

[107] He scored his 28th career hat trick, tying Marcel Dionne and Bobby Hull for sixth most in NHL history, on 26 November against the Florida Panthers.

[123] On 7 December 2023, Ovechkin recorded his 1,500th point with an assist on a goal scored by Dylan Strome in a 5–4 shootout loss to the Dallas Stars to become the 16th player in NHL history to reach the mark.

On 15 October 2024, Ovechkin recorded his 700th career assist on a goal by Aliaksei Protas in a 4–2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights, becoming the 60th player in NHL history to reach the mark.

[130][131] On January 11, 2025, Ovechkin scored an empty-net goal in a 4–1 win over the Nashville Predators, making him the second player in NHL history to record 20 consecutive 20-goal seasons, after Gordie Howe.

"[143] Ovechkin proves "the exception rather than the rule when it comes to success" on one-timers, which "can be very difficult to pull off," involving as they do "taking a hard pass and timing a shot perfectly, when the puck may be rolling or on end, while also aiming at a small net, particularly from far distances.

[155] On 25 January 2018, when Ovechkin recorded his 500th assist on a Nicklas Bäckström goal in a 4–2 win over the Florida Panthers, then–Capitals head coach Barry Trotz said after the game, "He's a legendary player.

"[164] The Capitals' morning skate ritually begins with Ovechkin "sprinting around the rink, a solo lap to the sound of sticks tapping from his teammates."

[169] After using and endorsing CCM equipment for most of his career, Ovechkin made the move to Bauer Hockey in August 2011 following a decline in his point production in the 2010–11 season.

[177] After being eliminated in the first round of the NHL playoffs, Ovechkin joined Russia for the 2010 IIHF World Championships along with many other Russian stars, such as Evgeni Malkin, Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk.

[178][179] That was criticized as the World Championship was considered insignificant compared to Olympic gold, which Russia had failed to win earlier that year in Sochi.

[202] On the soft launch of the site, visitors were encouraged to sign up for the team, track related news, participate in contests and attend and organize events.

It has been reported that Ilya Kovalchuk, who was then the Atlanta Thrashers' captain and a teammate of Ovechkin and Malkin on the Russian national team, brokered the peace between the two.