Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin is one of the most heralded players in NHL history. The legendary forward already has a ton of records on the NHL history books, but he’s still chasing Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record.
Ovechkin is on the verge of becoming the NHL’s all-time goals leader, and he can pass Gretzky’s mark of 894 before the end of season. The Capitals standout currently has 883 career goals after scoring Washington’s only goal in a 3-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night. In his previous outing, he posted his 32nd career hat trick against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.
He now needs 12 more goals in the team’s remaining 24 games in order to top Gretzky’s record this season.
The 2023-24 campaign proved to be a mortal one for Ovechkin where he scored 31 goals, his lowest total in a full-length season since he netted 32 in the 2012-13 season. Ovechkin did have just 24 goals in 2020-21, but that season was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ovechkin scored 42 goals during the 2022-23 season, and has tallied at least 41 goals in 13 of his 19 NHL seasons.
Ovechkin currently has tallied 1,597 points (883 goals, 714 assists) in his professional career. He made even more history in 2023-24 when he registered an NHL record 18th 30-goal season, passing Mike Gartner’s 17 for the honor.
At this season’s pace, given health, Ovechkin would surpass “The Great One” before the end of the regular season.
Ovechkin will likely continue to be an established force on the Capitals’ top power-play unit, so there figures to be plenty of goal-scoring opportunities. He, obviously, has scored at a much better pace than he did a year ago when he recorded just five goals over the first two months of the season.
CBS Sports will keep track of Ovechkin’s goals throughout the season and keep tabs on how close he is to eclipsing Gretzky’s all-time record.
