BREAKING: Tom Wilson named Capitals new Captain.

Alex Ovechkin believes Tom Wilson has the leadership skills to take over as Washington Capitals captain when he decides to retire from the NHL.

Ovechkin made the comments while speaking to the media on Breakdown Day Tuesday morning.

“I think since day one when he came to the league, he shows his leadership on the ice and off the ice,” Ovechkin said of Wilson. “He’s always in team-wise on the ice and off the ice. His support, this organization, he’s a leader and probably a future captain, as well.”

Wilson began serving as the Capitals’ second alternate captain this season, sharing the duty with TJ Oshie after Nicklas Backstrom stepped away from the team. John Carlson was the primary alternate. Next season, Wilson could be as a full time alternate if Oshie can’t solve his lingering back issues.

After signing a seven-year contract extension last August that will run through 2031, Wilson is the longest-signed current Capitals player and is essentially the captain in waiting. Ovechkin has two seasons remaining on what could be his final contract in the NHL.

Ovechkin has served as captain since January 5, 2010, when the then-24-year-old Russian first got the nod ahead of a game against the Montreal Canadiens. When the Ovechkin Era ends, the next captain will be the 15th in franchise history.

Before Spencer Carbery took reigns of the team, Wilson sported an ‘A’ in regular season games under former head coach Peter Laviolette against both the Pittsburgh Penguins and Arizona Coyotes. He also got the ‘A’ in preseason games under the team’s last four coaches including Todd Reirden (2019) and Barry Trotz (2016).

Behind the scenes, Wilson has long been viewed as captain material and a player to whom prospects and young players go for advice. Wilson has naturally taken to the role since entering a veteran Caps locker room during his first days as a NHL player.

 

“You could see the raw physicality and the skating,” goaltender Braden Holtby said in 2020. “But he was also one of those guys that once he got here, even when he was a rookie, you could tell that he was meant to be a captain in this league.

“He’s evolved as a player over the years,” Holtby added, “but those intangibles, he had them right from day one.”

Wilson revealed Ovechkin, a player whose jersey he owned as a kid, has taken him under his wing in recent years to share his wisdom.

“I’ve had a pretty cool perspective coming into DC with Ovi,” Wilson said last summer. “To be able to learn from him, watch him, and help him in whatever way I can has been pretty cool. You can never take it for granted playing with someone that great.

“He’s been amazing to me. An amazing leader. He’s taken me under his wing. He’s had lots of conversations [with me] about four or five years down the road or whenever it is about what it means to be a leader and he’s been fairly vocal with me the last little while about that. Just speaks to his character and how much he cares about his teammates and I just try to soak it all in.”