Michael Phelps’ 23 Olympic gold medals. Jerry Rice’s 22,895 career receiving yards. Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game. Tom Brady’s seven Super Bowl wins. Bill Russell’s 11 NBA titles. Jack Nicklaus’ 18 major golf championships.
These are considered some of the most unbreakable sports records of all time, and Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 894 career goals was rightfully placed among these incredible individual achievements.
How could anyone match not only the wonderous goal-scoring prowess but also the longevity of “The Great One”?
Enter, Alex Ovechkin.
How Ovechkin caught Gretzky
The legendary Washington Capitals star eclipsed Gretzky’s all-time goal mark in a 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders on April 6th.
Fittingly, Ovechkin broke the record in the same career game as Gretzky did so (1,487th). He also scored from the left faceoff circle on a power play, a place he’s scored from so often it’s known as “Ovi’s Office.”
The game was stopped for a 25-minute ceremony to celebrate Ovechkin. Gretzky, who set the record in 1994, was the first one to shake Ovechkin’s hand.
It’s been a long, 20-season journey to catch Gretzky for Ovechkin. Here is a year-by-year breakdown of how he did it:
| Career year | Ovechkin goals, career total | Gretzky goals, career total |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 52, 52 | 51, 51 |
| 2 | 46, 98 | 55, 106 |
| 3 | 65*, 163 | 92*, 198 |
| 4 | 56*, 219 | 71*, 269 |
| 5 | 50, 269 | 87*, 356 |
| 6 | 32, 301 | 73*, 429 |
| 7 | 38, 339 | 52, 481 |
| 8 | 32*, 371 | 62*, 543 |
| 9 | 51*, 422 | 40, 583 |
| 10 | 53*, 475 | 54, 637 |
| 11 | 50*, 525 | 40, 677 |
| 12 | 33, 558 | 41, 718 |
| 13 | 49*, 607 | 31, 749 |
| 14 | 51*, 658 | 16, 765 |
| 15 | 48*, 706 | 38, 803 |
| 16 | 24, 730 | 11, 814 |
| 17 | 50, 780 | 23, 837 |
| 18 | 42, 822 | 25, 862 |
| 19 | 31, 853 | 23, 885 |
| 20 | 42, 895 | 9, 894 |
*led NHL in goals that season
Even Ovechkin long considered the record out of reach. In 2016, he called the pursuit an “impossible” challenge. And you can understand why he believed that.
At the time, he was still over 300 goals shy of Gretzky. It would mean not only another near-decade of playing but also racking up 40-goal seasons at a time when most players experience a significant decline.
Even Gretzky couldn’t keep it up in his later years. As you can see above, he didn’t have a single 40-goal season after his 13th year.
But Ovechkin just kept rolling. Year after year. Game after game. Gretzky struggled to find the net in his final season, finishing with just nine goals, Ovechkin, meanwhile, continues to land haymakers on Father Time, eclipsing 40 goals for the 14th time.
Ovechkin’s other major accomplishments
2018 Stanley Cup Championship
It was a long wait for Ovechkin to finally get to the NHL mountaintop. After 13 years of questions about his ability to get it done in the playoffs, Ovechkin led the Capitals past two of his biggest rivals — Sidney Crosby of the Penguins and Steven Stamkos of the Lightning — before taking down the Knights in five games to win the franchise’s first title. Ovechkin was also named MVP.
20 seasons with one team
Few athletes are as synonymous with a team as Ovechkin is with the Capitals. He joined the team as the 2004 No. 1 overall pick, and despite losing his first year due to a lockout, he’s now played in 20 NHL seasons. Ovechkin holds so many Capitals records that I can’t list them all here, but most notably he’s first in games played (1,487), hat-tricks (32), and game-winning goals (136).
Record nine scoring titles
Ovechkin has won the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy, handed out to the season’s top goalscorer, nine times. Incredibly, since the award’s inception in 1998-99, the player with the second-most scoring titles is current holder Auston Matthews, who has won it six fewer times.
Three MVP trophies
The Hart Memorial Trophy is given out to the league’s MVP for that year, and Ovechkin has earned it three times (2007–08, 2008–09, and 2012–13) in his career. Only Gretzky (nine), Gordie Howe (six), and Eddie Shore (four) have taken home the award more times than Ovechkin.
Where Gretzky still has Ovechkin beat
Ovechkin might have taken away Gretzky’s most famous record, but “The Great One’s” name still dominates the NHL record books.
Here are some of the all-time marks that Gretzky holds, and how far Ovechkin is from catching him.
- MVP wins: Gretzky, nine — Ovechkin, three (4th overall)
- Career points: Gretzky, 2,857 — Ovechkin, 1,620 (11th)
- Playoff goals: Gretzky, 122 — Ovechkin, 72 (15th)
- Most goals in a season: Gretzky, 92 — Ovechkin, 65 (25th)
- Career assists: Gretzky, 1,963 — Ovechkin, 725 (56th)
- Two-goal games: Gretzky, 189 — Ovechkin, 179 (2nd)
What’s next for Ovechkin?
After looking back at how Ovechkin earned the goals record, let’s turn our attention forward to what’s next for the Russian, and also to see if anyone can possibly catch up to him.
Ovechkin’s future
Now that Ovechkin has become the NHL’s all-time goalscorer, the question becomes: how much longer will he continue to play and push the record further out of reach?
Ovechkin is 39 years old and the fourth-oldest active player in the NHL. He is contracted for one more season after inking a five-year deal in 2021 to ensure he had a shot at catching Gretzky.
While Ovechkin has shown few signs of decline, he did suffer one of the worst injuries of his career this season, breaking his leg in November. The fact he was able to recover and still break Gretzky’s record is a testament to his toughness.
But after dealing with such an injury, will Ovechkin want to continue after earning the final piece to his Hall of Fame career puzzle? Only time will tell.
Other goal record contenders
No one ever thought Gretzky’s all-time goal record would be caught. But as they say, records are meant to be broken. So is there anyone who can realistically challenge Ovechkin?
The most obvious answer is Matthews. As I mentioned earlier, the Leafs star is the current holder of the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy, his third win in the last four years.
Matthews isn’t even halfway to Ovechkin’s mark, as he sits just two goals shy of the 400 mark. But he’s done so in just 625 career games. For reference, Ovechkin reached 400 goals in 634 games, so Matthews is actually on a slightly faster trajectory.
Of course, longevity will be the issue for Matthews and any other challenger. Matthews has struggled with his health, missing 71 games in nine seasons. He’ll have to play another nine or 10 seasons and avoid further major injuries to stand a chance.
