Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin is already one of the most famous players in the world Story. The legendary striker already has a lot of records to his name history books, but there is one more that could put him in the pantheon of all-time greats.
Ovechkin is on the verge of becoming that He is the all-time leading scorer and can surpass Wayne Gretzky's mark of 894 in the 2024-25 regular season. The Capitals star currently has 866 career goals, so he will need to score 29 more goals this season to surpass Gretzky's record.
The 2023-24 season proved fatal for Ovechkin, who scored 31 goals last season. Ovechkin's 31 goals were his lowest total since he scored 32 goals in the 2012-13 season. Although Ovechkin only scored 24 goals in the 2020-21 season, that season was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ovechkin scored 42 goals in the 2022-23 season and has scored at least 41 goals in 13 of his 19 NHL seasons.
Ovechkin currently has 1,573 points (866 goals, 707 assists) in his professional career. He made even more history in the 2023-24 season when he scored an NHL-record 30 goals in his 18th season, surpassing Mike Gartner's 17 goals.
The 39-year-old Ovechkin took a big leap toward Gretzky on Nov. 17 with a hat trick in a 5-2 win over Gretzky Vegas Golden Knights. It was Ovechkin's first hat trick since December 31, 2022.
At this season's pace, Ovechkin would surpass “The Great One” before the end of the regular season. He has already scored 13 goals this season and is on track to score an incredible 62 goals this season. That would be the second-most goals he has scored in a season, behind only the 65 he scored in 2007-08, his third year in the league.
Ovechkin will likely continue to be an established force on the Capitals' top power play unit, so scoring opportunities should be plentiful. He's obviously off to a much better start than he was a year ago when he only scored five goals in the first two months of the season.
CBS Sports will keep an eye on Ovechkin's goals throughout the season and keep an eye on how close he is to surpassing Gretzky's record.
