Alex Ovechkin has maintained his observe file of being a harmful purpose scorer all through his profession, and he’ll go down as one of many high offensive gamers in NHL historical past.

Ovechkin lastly reached the NHL’s mountaintop as the highest purpose scorer in league historical past. Ovechkin handed Wayne Gretzky with the 895th purpose of his skilled profession in Sunday’s 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders

Ovechkin has spent the final a number of seasons inside earshot of Gretzky’s all-time targets file, and at last broke via Sunday afternoon. Over the last three campaigns, the Capitals star has compiled 115 targets to succeed in the illustrious plateau.

Alex Ovechkin stats, information: A have a look at the Capitals star by the numbers after passing Wayne Gretzky

Austin Nivison

Over the previous three seasons, Ovechkin put collectively these stat strains:

• 2022-23 season: 42 targets and 0.58 goals-per-game in 73 video games
• 2023-24 season: 31 targets and 0.39 goals-per-game in 79 video games
• 2024-25 season: 42 targets and 0.69 goals-per-game in 61 video games

Ovechkin ended up scoring six targets over his final 5 video games to set the file. 

The Capitals star was pressured to cope with some adversity over the previous two seasons that will have delayed reaching Gretzky’s all-time mark. In 2023-24, Ovechkin had what will be categorized as a down season wherein he scored simply 31 targets, the second-lowest complete of his profession. In the meantime, Ovechkin additionally suffered a damaged leg in mid-November and missed over a month of motion.

Evaluating Ovechkin and Gretzky 

When trying on the careers of each Ovechkin and Gretzky, a considerable amount of uncanny similarities are evident. Essentially the most noteworthy being it took Ovechkin 1,487 video games to attain 895 profession targets, whereas Gretzky scored his 894 targets in 1,487 contests.

Ovechkin had a chance to surpass Gretzky’s file in a single fewer sport as he registered two targets in Friday’s 5-3 win in opposition to the Chicago Blackhawks. With the Capitals main by a purpose late in Friday’s sport, Ovechkin might’ve scored an empty-net tally, however in true Ovechkin trend, he knowledgeable Capitals coach Spencer Carbery he needed to dethrone “The Nice One” with a goaltender within the crease.

The 2 gamers tallied practically the identical quantity of targets in the identical quantity of video games, and even scored at a really comparable clip. Ovechkin is tied for seventh in NHL historical past with 0.60 targets per sport. Sarcastically sufficient, Gretzky is tied with Ovechkin with 0.60 targets per sport.

The conclusion of Gretzky’s iconic profession was far completely different than the manufacturing Ovechkin has recorded within the latter phases of his profession. Gretzky failed to succeed in the 30-goal mark in every of his remaining 5 NHL seasons, whereas Ovechkin has topped the 30-goal mark in each skilled season other than the 2020-21 marketing campaign that was shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As well as, Gretzky tallied simply 9 targets in his remaining skilled season in 1998-99. Alternatively, Ovechkin nonetheless stays one of many NHL’s most deadly purpose scorers even on the age of 39, and recorded his 14th 40-goal season of his profession in 2024-25.

Ovechkin’s path was harder

Whereas Gretzky produced some superhuman seasons, it is also value noting the league was a totally completely different animal within the Seventies and Eighties when Gretzky broke in. 

The athleticism of most of the league’s gamers, together with defensemen, wasn’t fairly what it’s now, because the pace of the sport has been elevated drastically over the past decade. Moreover, goaltending methods and tools have vastly improved over the past three a long time.

For instance, through the 1985-86 season when Gretzky registered a career-high 215 factors (52 targets, 163 assists), solely two NHL goaltenders tallied a goals-against-average beneath 3.00. Philadelphia Flyers goalie Bob Froese led the league with a 2.55 goals-against-average, whereas Montreal Canadiens netminder Doug Soetaert had the second-highest at 2.77. 

Evaluate these numbers to the 2023-24 season, when 33 NHL goaltenders recorded a sub-3.00 goals-against-average. Winnipeg Jets netminder Connor Hellebuyck ended up successful the Vezina Trophy because the league’s greatest goalie with a 2.04 goals-against-average.

How far can Ovechkin climb?

Gretzky produced arguably probably the most spectacular offensive profession in NHL historical past, however the progress of the sport actually makes Ovechkin reaching the identical feat all of the extra particular.

With the all-time targets file formally in his rearview mirror, Ovechkin now has an opportunity to create far between himself and Gretzky. At 39 years outdated, Ovechkin has another season remaining on his present contract, and the Capitals are battling for the Presidents’ Trophy this season. If Ovechkin decides that he desires to play just a few extra seasons, maybe 1,000 profession targets might be throughout the realm of potentialities. 

No matter what number of extra targets Ovechkin can rack up, these two will all the time be thought-about a number of the most deadly purpose scorers to ever placed on the skates.