LUKAS BLANKENSTEIN / CONTRIBUTOR

Alexander Ovechkin made history on April 6, 2025 by scoring his 895th career National Hockey League (NHL) goal. The goal was scored with 12:34 left in the second period in a game against the New York Islanders.

The NHL goal record was previously  held by hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, a player so prolific that he is often referred to as “The Great One” by fans. When he retired in 1999, he boasted the most major NHL records, including the record for points (2857), assists (1,963) and goals (894). Along with these stats, Ovechkin also has more assists than any other individual player has in points, which is assists and goals combined. Gretzky was in attendance for the historic achievement in order to congratulate Ovechkin for breaking his record.

Ovechkin was drafted in 2004 as the first overall pick by the Washington Capitals, where he has played ever since. He became the second ever Russian player to be drafted as the first overall pick, after Ilya Kovalchuk in 2001.

Ovechkin’s hallmark has been his consistency. The “Great Eight” — nicknamed because he wears number eight- has scored over 30 goals in 19 of his 20 NHL seasons with the only exception being the 2020-21 season which was shortened by COVID. By coincidence, Ovechkin also scored his 895th goal in his 1487th game, the same number of games Gretzky played in his career.

At 39 years old, many were wondering if this would be Ovechkin’s last chance to break the record. Ovechkin has since quelled rumors about him potentially retiring in an interview on the Pat McAfee show, claiming he has at least one more season in him.

“Well, I have one more year, and we’ll see what’s gonna happen,” Ovechkin said. “I love the team, I love being around the boys and as long as I can, I will try to stick around and put my great body in the NHL.” 

As of publication, Ovechkin has scored another two goals in the final few games of the regular season, bringing his total up to 897. Even if this was his last season, he would still have put himself into the history books as the greatest goal scorer in NHL history. He still has time to build his legacy even higher, with the upcoming playoffs. So far, he has already scored a game winning overtime goal, working toward a second championship to add to his resume. He also has at least one more season to create an even larger gap for someone to surpass him as the NHL’s top goal scorer of all time.

Ovechkin playing hockey. Photo courtesy of @dailyfaceoff/Instagram