Alex Ovechkin is on the precipice of one of the last major milestones of his career.
After tying and then passing Wayne Gretzky for the NHL all-time goals record last April, Ovechkin now sits one goal away from becoming the first player in NHL history to reach 900 goals. While there seems to be less media and pressure — the NHL has no plans to celebrate the moment like goal no. 895 — Ovechkin admitted that reaching the milestone has been on his mind.
“Well, of course,” Ovechkin said after practice on Monday. “Nobody scores 900, so it’ll be nice to be the first one.”
After Ovechkin’s goalsplosion last season at age 39 — 44 goals in 65 games — and his quick recovery from a midseason broken leg, many analysts thought that Ovi would come out of the gates strong and potentially hit 900 on Opening Night in the most Ovi way: a hat trick. It made sense. Since reaching the 500-goals milestone and entering the top five in NHL goals, Ovechkin has usually made quick work of the next milestone when on its precipice.
How many games it took for Alex Ovechkin to reach a milestone when sitting one goal away
Date
Goal milestone
Amount of games to reach
?
900 goals
4 games & counting
4/6/25
895 goals (NHL goals record)
0
4/4/25
894 (Tie Wayne Gretzky)
0
12/23/22
802 (Pass Gordie Howe)
0
12/23/22
801 (Tie Gordie Howe)
5
12/13/22
800 goals
0
3/15/22
767 (Pass Jaromir Jagr)
3
3/8/22
766 (Tie Jaromir Jagr)
0
11/12/21
742 (Pass Brett Hull)
2
11/8/21
741 (Tie Brett Hull)
2
2/22/20
700 goals
0
3/12/18
600 goals
4
1/10/16
500 goals
0
The longest Ovechkin took to reach a significant milestone — when one goal away — was five games, when, after scoring a hat trick against the Chicago Blackhawks to reach 800 goals, he hit a brief wall, 10 days, to tie and pass Gordie Howe (801 and 802) on December 23, 2022, against the Winnipeg Jets.
When Ovechkin takes the ice on Wednesday against the St. Louis Blues, the game will mark his fifth since scoring his 899th career goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets on October 24.
Reaching the milestone and just scoring another goal will likely be a relief, as Ovechkin, at age 40, is off to the slowest start of his NHL career, scoring just two goals and posting 7 points in his first 12 games played.
“I hope so,” Ovechkin said. “Sometimes you can’t score in five or six games, and then you score 10 games in a row. Yeah, we’ll see.”
The Capitals captain is still trying to find his top game after suffering a lower-body injury on the first day of training camp and suiting up in only two preseason games before the start of the regular season.
“It’s still a process,” Ovechkin said. “But to be honest with you, every game you feel better and better, with the touches, conditioning-wise.”
