Alex Ovechkin has maintained his track record of being a dangerous goal scorer throughout his career, and he will go down as one of the top offensive players in NHL history.
Ovechkin finally reached the NHL’s mountaintop as the top goal scorer in league history. Ovechkin passed Wayne Gretzky with the 895th goal of his professional career in Sunday’s 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders
Ovechkin has spent the last several seasons within earshot of Gretzky’s all-time goals record, and finally broke through Sunday afternoon. During the last three campaigns, the Capitals star has compiled 115 goals to reach the illustrious plateau.
Alex Ovechkin stats, records: A look at the Capitals star by the numbers after passing Wayne Gretzky Austin Nivison
Over the past three seasons, Ovechkin put together these stat lines:
2022-23 season: 42 goals and 0.58 goals-per-game in 73 games
2023-24 season: 31 goals and 0.39 goals-per-game in 79 games
2024-25 season: 42 goals and 0.69 goals-per-game in 61 games
Ovechkin ended up scoring six goals over his last five games to set the record.
The Capitals star was forced to deal with some adversity over the past two seasons that may have delayed reaching Gretzky’s all-time mark. In 2023-24, Ovechkin had what can be categorized as a down season in which he scored just 31 goals, the second-lowest total of his career. Meanwhile, Ovechkin also suffered a broken leg in mid-November and missed over a month of action.
Comparing Ovechkin and Gretzky
When looking at the careers of both Ovechkin and Gretzky, a large amount of uncanny similarities are evident. The most noteworthy being it took Ovechkin 1,487 games to score 895 career goals, while Gretzky scored his 894 goals in 1,487 contests.
Ovechkin had an opportunity to surpass Gretzky’s record in one fewer game as he registered two goals in Friday’s 5-3 win against the Chicago Blackhawks. With the Capitals leading by a goal late in Friday’s game, Ovechkin could’ve scored an empty-net tally, but in true Ovechkin fashion, he informed Capitals coach Spencer Carbery he wanted to dethrone