Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin is already one of the vital heralded gamers in NHL historical past. The legendary ahead already has a ton of information on the NHL historical past books, however there’s another nonetheless to go that might put him within the pantheon of all-time greats.
Ovechkin is on the verge of changing into the NHL’s all-time targets chief, and he can move Wayne Gretzky’s mark of 894 through the 2024-25 common season. The Capitals standout presently has 868 profession targets, so must rack up 27 extra targets this season to be able to high Gretzky’s document.
The 2023-24 marketing campaign proved to be a mortal one for Ovechkin, who scored 31 targets final season, his lowest whole in a full-length season since he netted 32 targets within the 2012-13 season. Ovechkin did have simply 24 targets in 2020-21, however that season was shortened because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ovechkin scored 42 targets through the 2022-23 season, and has tallied not less than 41 targets in 13 of his 19 NHL seasons.
Ovechkin presently has tallied 1,575 factors (868 targets, 707 assists) in his skilled profession. He made much more historical past in 2023-24 when he registered an NHL document 18th 30-goal season, passing Mike Gartner’s 17 for the consideration.
The 39-year-old Ovechkin took one other huge bounce towards Gretzky on Nov. 18 with two targets in a 6-2 win over the Utah Hockey Membership. That got here at some point after a hat trick in a 5-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights. It was Ovechkin’s first hat trick since Dec. 31, 2022. Monday’s sport in opposition to Utah additionally represented one other milestone: His a hundredth profession multi-goal street sport, additionally most all-time.
Nevertheless, Ovechkin did go away the ice early with what gave the impression to be a lower-body harm. He didn’t return.
At this season’s tempo, given well being, Ovechkin would surpass “The Nice One” earlier than the top of the common season. He is already scored a league-high 15 targets this season, and he is on tempo for an unbelievable 68 this marketing campaign, which might surpass his profession excessive of 65 he netted in 2007-08, his third yr within the league.
Ovechkin will seemingly proceed to be a longtime drive on the Capitals’ high power-play unit, so there figures to be loads of goal-scoring alternatives. He, clearly, has gotten off to a a lot hotter begin than he did a yr in the past when he recorded simply 5 targets over the primary two months of the season.
CBS Sports activities will hold monitor of Ovechkin’s targets all through the season and hold tabs on how shut he’s to eclipsing Gretzky’s all-time document.
