On April 6, Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin scored his 895th goal, surpassing Wayne Gretzky for the most career goals in NHL history.
The goal came against the New York Islanders. Once Gretzky scored the goal, the game was immediately paused. It was followed by a ceremony, which included speeches from Wayne Gretzky, the NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, and Ovechkin himself.
“They say records are meant to be broken, but I’m not sure who’s going to get more goals than that,” Gretzky, the former all-time leader in goals, said.
Ovechkin scored on Ilya Sorokin, who is the 184th goalie he has scored on. Prior to this game, Ovechkin had yet to score on him.
“Thank you, Ilya Sorokin, for helping me score 895,” Ovechkin joked during his speech.
Ovechkin is in his 20th season, and has beaten Gretzky’s record in the same number of seasons as Gretzky played. Ovechkin’s career slowed down with multiple lockouts and the COVID-19 pandemic. If he had played those seasons, he would most likely have nearly 1,000 career goals.
Ovechkin’s 895 goals were all scored with the same team. He surpassed the record of most goals with one team in 2022, beating Gordie Howe’s record of 786 with the Detroit Red Wings.
Not only is Ovechkin now the all-time leader in goals, he also has almost every other goal-scoring record. Here is a list of the other records he has:
- Most career goals scored with one team: 895
- Most Maurice “Rocket” Richard trophies for most goals in a season: 9
- Most career 30-goal seasons: 18
- Most career 40-goal seasons: 13
- Most career 45-goal seasons: 12
- Most career 50-goal seasons: 9 (tied with Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky)
- Most career power-play goals: 324
- Most career empty-net goals: 65
- Most career overtime goals: 27
- Most career game-winning goals: 136
- Most unique goalies scored on: 184
- Most career shots on goal: 6,847
- Only player to be named to the NHL first All-Star team in each of his first five seasons
- First player to win the Art Ross Trophy, Maurice Richard Trophy, Lester B. Pearson Award, and Hart Memorial Trophy in a single season
Ovechkin has one year remaining on his contract. Despite once saying that he would retire on the spot if he were to break Gretzky’s record, he intends on playing through his contract. He does not intend on signing a new contract, he said in an interview with Sports-Express’ Igor Rabiner.
Even with him getting this record, he is still criticized for only winning one Stanley Cup, compared to Gretzky’s four.
The Capitals were the first team to clinch a playoff position this year. The team has a better chance of winning in the playoffs than in recent years, according to MoneyPuck.
Even with this season’s success for the Capitals, Ovechkin still suffered an injury that caused him to miss multiple weeks. During a game against the Utah Hockey Club, he was involved in a leg-on-leg collision with an opposing player, fracturing his fibula. Prior to this injury, Ovechkin had only missed 35 games due to injury. With all of that in mind, he is still in the top three of goals this season, with 42.
Moving forward, Ovechkin has a chance at hitting the 900 career goal mark by the end of the season and he has one year left on his contract to build on his record.
