July 16, 2023 by Josh Boulton

While most of Wayne Gretzky’s NHL records remain untouchable, Alexander Ovechkin has a legitimate chance of breaking his record for most career goals (894). Ending the 2022-23 season at 822 career goals, the Ovechkin joined Gretzky and Gordie Howe (801) as the only players in NHL history to reach the 800-goal plateau.

After 18 NHL season, Ovechkin remains one of the most lethal shooters in the game, especially from the top of the left circle, where he has scored hundreds of goals. Here are five other random facts about arguably the greatest goal-scorer ever to play the game:

1. “The Great Eight” sits 16th on the NHL all-time points list with 1,485, just 17 points behind longtime rival Sidney Crosby (1,502) at 15th. Crosby is the only other active player in the top 40 (Patrick Kane is 41st and Evgeni Malkin is 44th, respectively). Both Crosby and Ovechkin have a reasonable shot at catching Phil Esposito (1,590) for a spot in the top 10. However, in classic Hollywood fashion, only one of them will likely do it, which them one final feat to chase in their illustriously intertwined careers.
2. The big Russian has spent his entire career with the Washington Capitals, making him one of just 10 players in the top 50 scorers in NHL history to play his entire career with one franchise. The others are Steve Yzerman (7th, Detroit Red Wings), Mario Lemieux (8th, Pittsburgh Penguins), Crosby (15th, Pittsburgh Penguins), Stan Mikita (17th, Chicago Blackhawks), Gilbert Perrault (35th, Buffalo Sabres), Alex Delvecchio (37th, Detroit Red Wings), Malkin (44th, Pittsburgh Penguins), Jean Beliveau (45th, Montreal Canadiens), and Bobby Clarke (48th, Philadelphia Flyers).
3. Ovechkin continues to be a human cheat code from his spot on the power-play. Sitting at 299 career power-play goals, it appears likely he’ll become the first player ever to record 300 goals with the man-advantage early next season. Dave Andreychuk (274), Brett Hull (265), and Teemu Selanne (255) are the only other players to reach 250, and no other active player even has 200.
4. Unsurprisingly, the nine-time 50-goal scorer is one of the 97 players to ever record 1,000 career points. 10 other active players have already reached that milestone, and three other active players are in the hunt: Blake Wheeler (922 points), John Tavares (975 points) and Phil Kessel (99th, 992 points).
5. There have been several other notable “pure” goal scorers in hockey lore, but none quite like Ovechkin. He’s specifically known for his goal scoring prowess, which in his case is especially justified. Of the 97 players in the 1,000 point club, the feared sniper is one of only nine players to tally more career goals than assists. He has the largest gap in goals to assists of them all with 159 (822-663). The next closest are Brett Hull with a difference of 91 (741-650) and Mike Gartner with a difference of 81 (708-627). Bobby Hull comes in at 50 (610-560), and the other four players in this category (Dino Ciccarelli, Joe Nieuwendyk, Mike Bossy, and Keith Tkachuk) have a goal to assist split of 20 or less. In fact, there have only been six players in the entire history of the National Hockey League to retire with more career goals than assists and a difference between them of over 100, and four of them were born in the 1800s. These six players are Joe Malone – 110 (143-33), Peter Bondra – 114 (503-389), Maurice Richard – 122 (544-422), Nels Stewart, 133 (324-191), Babe Dye – 154 (203-49), and Cy Denneny – 158 (247-89). That means if Ovechkin retired right now, out of anyone who’s ever retired with more goals than assists he’d have the highest goals to assists spread literally of all time. Ever.