Alex Ovechkin on his way back into town ahead of 2024-25 season

Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is flying back to the United States for his 20th NHL season writes Sammi Silber of The Hockey News on X.

We all know the numbers. 31 goals and 34 assists for 65 points last season and needing just 42 to pass Wayne Gretzky for the record. Last season he also supplanted five game winning goals while averaging 19:13 minutes of ice time every night.

In other news yesterday there were a total of 35 prospects from several different NHL cities taking over MedStar which included 2024 first overall pick Macklin Celebrini, Philadelphia Flyers prospect Matvei Michkov as well as New York Rangers enforcer Matt Rempe.

Newest Pittsburgh Penguins forward Rutger McGroarty was also there as were Will Smith, Lane Hutson, Dalibor Dvorsky, Cutter Gauthier and more.

Back to Ovi where we'll now break down his advanced numbers. Per Natural Stat Trick, Ovechkin had a corsi for percentage of 47.98 in the regular season, an expected goals for percentage of 51.17 percent and a high danger chances for percentage of 48.68 percent in the regular season.

In the playoffs Ovi's corsi for percentage went up to 55.32 percent while his expected goals for percentage was at 53.63 percent and his high danger chances for percentage clocked out to 56.25 percent.

In other news informal skates continue to ramp up and per Katie Adler of RMNB some familiar faces joined the group including Connor McMichael, Sonny Milano, and Martin Fehervary.

Meanwhile last night at Capital One Arena the ice installation is already underway.

The Caps also got a visit after their informal skates yesterday from none other than Travis Pastrana a native of Annapolis, Maryland.

The team store at MedStar Capitals Iceplex reopens today with some new arrivals for the Caps 50th anniversary season with Under Armour tees now in stock.

Also yesterday featured Ivan Miroshnichenko at the NHLPA Rookie Showcase and he was ready for his close up as we can see from Tarik El-Bashir of Monumental Sports Network:

Miro joked that his goal is to score 100-500 goals before giving a serious answer that he thinks he's capable of at least 20 goals. And we know Spencer Carbery and much of the Caps brass is high on the kid thinking he can even eclipse up to 25-30 goals.

Also fans are encouraged to check out the installation of the Caps 50th anniversary mural this Friday on Palmer Alley featuring appearances from Mike Green and others including team owner Ted Leonsis.