Ovechkin on the brink of breaking Gretzky’s record and astonishingly in fewer games
Alexander Ovechkin will almost certainly become the NHL’s all-time leading goal-scorer, and he might do it in fewer games than Wayne Gretzky.
The Washington Capitals superstar is currently sitting at 892 goals through 1,485 games which is just two back of Gretzky’s NHL record of 894 goals through 1487 games. This means that Ovechkin could potentially tie Gretzky’s mark (or possibly surpass it) in one fewer game than the Great One.
To get the record, he would need to notch a hat trick in Friday night’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks, which would bump his totals up to 895 goals in 1,486 games.
Pretty amazing stat here
Gretzky 1487 games 894 goals
Ovechkin 1485 games 892 goals— David Amber (@DavidAmber) April 3, 2025
Gretzky’s goals record was long thought to be almost untouchable when it was initially accomplished back in 1999. To get to that spot, the four-time Stanley Cup champion put up nine 50-goal campaigns and had individual years where he put up an astounding 92, 87, 73, and 71 goals.
Ovechkin has never been able to hit those highs in individual years, but he has made up for it by being a very consistent goalscorer. The Russian superstar has tied Gretzky with nine 50+ goal campaigns and has never had a season below 31 since the entered the league back in 2005-06, which totals up to 20 years of scoring 31+ goals. Gretzky only had 14 campaigns doing the same.
Shockingly, it appears that Ovechkin’s goalscoring ability has been able to age better than Gretzky’s as the Great One trailed off in his final few NHL seasons, scoring just 23 and nine goals in his last two years, respectively.
Hitting the fabled 895-mark tomorrow night is certainly possible, as the Capitals are far better than the basement-dwelling Blackhawks. Ovechkin has 15 career goals in 25 games against Chicago, and he managed to score a hat trick against them back in 2022 to reach 800 career goals.
Gretzky himself will be in attendance for the game as will NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. We’ll see if the Great Eight has another trick up his sleeve.