Detroit Red Wings legend Pavel Datsyuk has a message for Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin

Washington Capitals captain and future Hall of Famer Alex Ovechkin became the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer in April, scoring his 895th goal to officially pass Wayne Gretzky.

How much longer does he have in the NHL? He's about to enter the final year of his contract, and the Capitals were recently forced to issue a correction after an email was accidentally sent to season-ticket holders saying that 2025-26 would be Ovechkin's final NHL season.

But words from Ovechkin's spouse seemed to confirm that he's on the verge of a departure from the NHL as soon as his current contract comes to an end.

In the meantime, former Red Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk, a fellow Russian and recently inducted Hall of Famer, believes that Ovechkin should stay in the NHL until he scores 1,000 career goals.

He told Match TV's Pavel Lysenkov (translated by Google Translate) in joking fashion that Ovechkin shouldn't come back to Russia until he scores 1,000 career NHL goals.

Datsyuk recently became the 10th player from the legendary 2001-02 Red Wings team to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He joins Nicklas Lidstrom, Igor Larionov, Brendan Shanahan, Brett Hull, Steve Yzerman, Luc Robitaille, Chris Chelios, Dominik Hasek and Sergei Fedorov.

Datsyuk left the Red Wings in 2016 so that he could continue his professional playing career in Russia.