Ovechkin continuing tradition of jersey swap for display in own museum

ARLINGTON, Va. -- After most games this season, Alex Ovechkin has made his way toward his opponent's locker room for a quiet exchange.

It's a practice the Washington Capitals captain initiated, swapping the jersey he wore during the game for one from the opposing or another key player on that team. An avid memorabilia collector, Ovechkin has long admired jersey exchanges in professional and international soccer and wanted to bring it to hockey. 

"For my kids, for myself, just for the memories," the 40-year-old left wing said. "I wanted to just to do it with the captains. Soccer players do it and I think it's a good thing."

Ovechkin exchanged jerseys with New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier, who he'll face at Prudential Center on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; HULU, ESPN+) after the Capitals lost 3-2 in a shootout at Capital One Arena on Nov. 15. Ovechkin has also swapped jerseys with New Jersey forward Jack Hughes and his brother, defenseman Luke Hughes, this season.

Not surprisingly, it doesn't require much arm twisting to get opponents to agree to the trades. Who wouldn't want a signed, game-worn jersey from Ovechkin, the NHL record-holder with 928 goals?

"It's great," said Hischier, who received the jersey Ovechkin wore when he scored his 902nd goal. "Obviously, a huge honor for me. I was very pumped about it. It's definitely got a cool spot in my place."

Ovechkin, who leads the Capitals with 29 goals, said he will keep some of the jerseys at his home, but plans to display most of them, along with his extensive collection of sticks, in his museum, which is being built in his hometown of Moscow, Russia. He hopes construction will be completed so the museum can open sometime next year.

Some observers have interpreted the exchanges as a sign that this will be Ovechkin's final NHL season. Ovechkin is in his 21st NHL season, all with the Capitals, and the final season of the five-year, $47.5 million contract he signed July 27, 2021.

He said he hasn't decided yet what he'll do after this season, though, and that the jersey trades aren't related to him potentially retiring.

"No, because I wanted to do it a couple years ago," Ovechkin said. "It was hard because I was talking to our (head equipment manager Brock Myles), and he said, 'It's tough. We have to wait one more year, one more year.' And this year, he said, 'OK, finally, we can do that.'"

To supply the exchanges, the Capitals had about 50 additional Ovechkin game jerseys made this season. The majority of the meetings take place without media coverage, but a few were made public, like after Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar, who plans to retire after this season, played his final game in Washington on Nov. 17. The Capitals and Kings posted video and photos on their social media accounts of Ovechkin and Kopitar trading their signed jerseys after Ovechkin scored his 903rd goal in the Capitals' 2-1 win that night.

Ovechkin also swapped signed jerseys with longtime friend Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Nov. 6 and Brad Marchand of the Florida Panthers on Nov. 13.

For the most part, though, the trades are done without fanfare. After the final horn, Ovechkin will return to the Capitals locker room to take off his equipment, fulfill whatever postgame media responsibilities he has and then bring his jersey to the exchange. The opposing player will similarly slip past the media without much attention to meet with Ovechkin.

Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk was recovering from surgery on his thumb at the time but was traveling with the team when Ovechkin played his 1,500th NHL game against the Senators on Oct. 25. Tkachuk left Capital One Arena that night with Ovechkin's signed jersey after meeting with him postgame. Vegas Golden Knights captain Mark Stone walked out of the visiting locker room at Capital One Arena with his jersey in a clear plastic bag to go to his postgame meeting with Ovechkin on Feb. 27.

David Pastrnak, an alternate captain with the Boston Bruins, lit up when asked about trading sticks and jerseys with Ovechkin. 

"Honestly, I don't collect sticks but that's the one stick I have," Pastrnak said. "Obviously really happy – and the jersey, we (exchanged), too, so happy at the end of the day. He's the best goal scorer in the world and in the whole history of hockey."

Most of the jerseys Ovechkin receives back are game worn except for a few cases when those were unavailable to be traded. 

"Some of them are not because I think some players have a deal with the team and they have to give it away to the fans, most of them are game worn," Ovechkin said.

Ovechkin is unsure if other players will follow his lead and jersey exchanges will become more common in the NHL. Some NFL and NBA players swap jerseys postgame and Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers has been a proponent of getting the practice to catch on in Major League Baseball.

Hockey players usually exchange sticks, and Ovechkin has been at the forefront of that as well, gathering more than 300 signed, game-used sticks from current and former players. He also has most of his own sticks from various milestones, such as the one he used to score his 895th goal to break Wayne Gretzky's NHL record of 894 on April 6, 2025, along with hundreds of pucks from his goals.

Ovechkin has far fewer jerseys, but they will add another element to his collection that will bring back warm memories for him and visitors to his museum long after he retires, whenever that happens.

"It's nice, especially for him to get a nice collection from each captain he played against," Capitals forward Aliaksei Protas said. "I think for the other guys, it's a pretty nice souvenir to have to remember for sure. I think it's a good one. I'm not sure about soccer jerseys. It might be a little more expensive than soccer, but it's nice, especially for him."

Ovechkin also has his share of jerseys from players in other sports. He exchanged jerseys with Lebron James when the NBA's all-time leading scorer visited Washington with the Los Angeles Lakers on Jan. 30.

Ovechkin brought sons Sergei, 7, and Ilya, 5, with him, along with Protas, to meet James after the game. 

"He treated us very kindly, all of us," Ovechkin said. "My kids met him. 'Pro' was there as well. It was a pretty cool moment." 

James is 41 years old and many are speculating about whether he will retire after this season. Ovechkin can empathize, but he is trying not to think that it might've been his last time seeing James play in person. 

"I hope not," Ovechkin said. "He's one of great players that ever played basketball. It's his decision, obviously."

NHL.com senior writer Amalie Benjamin contributed to this report