Alexander Ovechkin will undoubtedly go down as the greatest Washington Capital of all time when he does decide to retire.
Now, Ovechkin is on pace to break the NHL goal record this season, a record set by Wayne Gretzky (aka “The Great One”) in 1999.
The current NHL goal record, which has stood for multiple decades, is Gretzky’s career total of 894 goals in 1,487 games, which he reached on March 29th, 1999, during the final season of his career before retiring.
Now, 26 years later, Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals is just 7 goals away from tying the record and 8 from breaking it!
Plus, having played only 1,478 games in his NHL career, Ovechkin may break the NHL goal-scoring record in even fewer games played than Gretzky.
How Alexander Ovechkin’s ‘Gr8 Chase’ is raising funds for cancer research
On March 5th, Alex Ovechkin announced the ‘Gr8 Chase for Victory Over Cancer” amidst his historic campaign to break the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring record!
As part of the fundraising and awareness campaign for pediatric cancer research, Ovechkin pledged that for the remainder of his NHL career, he will donate the dollar amount equal to his career goal total to the V Foundation!
Since he announced ‘The Gr8 Chase’ on March 5th, Ovechkin has scored twice – donating $1,771 to charity as part of the campaign.
Additionally, Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the company that owns the Capitals, has pledged to match Ovechkin’s donations; meaning that in total $3,542 has been fundraised already, not including fan contributions and donations to the effort.
“Throughout my NHL career, I have met many brave kids battling cancer, and I feel it’s important to do what I can to help save more lives from this horrible disease. I want to thank the V Foundation for all their hard work, and I look forward to using my platform and doing anything I can to help further the V Foundation and Hockey Fights Cancer’s mission.” – Alexander Ovechkin
When is Alex Ovechkin going to break the goal record?
Ovechkin is currently sitting 8 goals from breaking the record but has 14 games remaining in the 2024-25 season to do so because this particular record only accounts for regular-season goals (goals scored in the playoffs won’t count).
So, despite the Capitals being poised to make a deep run in this year’s playoffs, any goals Ovechkin scores in the post-season won’t help him break this scoring record.
That being said, as of March 16th, the prediction is that he will break the record this season on April 12th in Columbus against the Blue Jackets.
What is the all-time NHL goal-scoring record including playoff goals?
When you factor in post-season goals as well, Wayne Gretzky holds the record with 1,016 goals – 894 regular-season goals & 122 post-season goals.
Not far behind though is our captain, Alex Ovechkin, with 959 total goals – 887 regular-season goals & 72 post-season goals.
This means that Ovechkin is currently 57 goals away from Gretzky’s all-time regular+post-season goal record.