What was once an unthinkable accomplishment is now a legitimate possibility.
Washington Capitals superstar sniper Alexander Ovechkin is gunning for one of hockey’s most cherished records, Wayne Gretzky’s all-time mark for goals. And he may just do it.
Entering Thursday night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens, ‘The Great 8’ leads the National Hockey League with 51 goals this season and is just the third player in hockey history to record eight 50-goal seasons — behind Gretzky and New York Islanders legend Mike Bossy.
Ovechkin, who is well on his way to winning his record-breaking eighth Rocket Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal scorer, has accumulated 658 goals in 1,082 career games over 14 seasons. That works out to a rate of .608 goals per game.
Ovi scored 475 goals in his first 10 years in the NHL (760 games) or .625 goals a game. Over his last four seasons, Ovechkin has played 322 contests and has registered 183 goals (.568 a game).
By comparison, ‘The Great One’ scored 894 goals in 1,487 games during his Hall of Fame career, which amounts to .601 goals per game. In his first 10 seasons in the National Hockey League (774 games), Gretzky scored 637 goals — an astonishing .823 per game.
If Ovechkin plays the same number of games that Gretzky did in his career, and continues to score at the same clip, Washington’s captain will finish his career with an all-time record 905 goals.
However, Gretzky’s scoring rate slowed considerably over his last 10 years in the NHL when he collected 257 goals in his final 713 goals, or .360 a game. The last five seasons were Gretzky’s worst in terms of goal production as he amassed 91 goals between the ages of 34 and 38, when he finally called it quits.
Ovechkin has scored no fewer that 32 goals in a season and will turn 34 in September. Father Time will ultimately catch up to the Russian scoring machine, but it’s not hard to imagine Ovi becoming the all-time scoring champ.
He needs 237 goals to break Gretzky’s record and can do it by averaging slightly more than 47 goals a season over the next five years.
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If you think that’s a stretch, fine. If Ovechkin plays until he’s 40 (seven more seasons) he will need to average roughly 34 goals a year to break the record.
Still think it’s unthinkable?