1K For The Great Eight

Over the storied history of the National Hockey League there have been some great goal scorers that have graced its ice. Guys like Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Mike Bossy, Phil Esposito, Brett Hull, Bobby Hull, Maurice Richard, Gordie Howe. The list goes on and on. There will, always and forever, be two names that stand atop the list. Wayne Gretzky and Alex Ovechkin. Over the weekend, Ovechkin joined Gretzky as the only two men in the history of the sport to score 1,000 career goals between the regular season and the playoffs.

The record goal for Ovechkin came in typical fashion. It came from his spot late in the 3rd period of a 3-2 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday. It was his 26th goal of the year, his 21st in the NHL. It now, as of this writing, gives him 923 goals in the regular season. Throw in his 77 career playoff goals, and he’s at the magical 1,000 career mark. Wayne Gretzky finished his career with 894 regular season goals, and another 122 in the playoffs, giving him 1,016.

Gretzky’s records and legacy will forever speak for itself. What Ovechkin is doing is at a level all by itself. Gretzky is the greatest playmaker and all around offensive player the game of hockey has ever seen. Ovie is the greatest pure goal scorer ever. That’s not to take away from his playmaking abilities. Ovechkin has 753 assists and 1,676 regular seas points as of this writing. He also has 70 assists and 147 points in 151 career playoff games. So his playmaking ability is there, but its not as pronounced as Gretzky’s. What Ovechkin did was score goals. Wayne did too, and he did it very well in the 80s. But that was at times overshadowed by his assist totals and playmaking skills. Ovechkin just buries the puck. And he got the goal totals, and trophies, to prove it.

Ovechkin has won the Rocket Richard trophy, which is given each year to the league’s leading goal scorer, a record nine times. He’s also been runner up for that trophy one other time in his career. He holds the league record for the most 40 goal seasons with thirteen, and he’s tied with Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky for the most 50 goal seasons with nine. Ovechkin is also the only player in league history to have tallied 200 or more goals in three different decades. He scored 245 goals in the 2000s, 437 in the 2010s and 213 (and counting) in the 2020s. We could keep going on and on with how many goal scoring marks he has, and we probably will when Ovechkin finally hangs up his skates.

There’s no doubt in anybody’s mind that Ovechkin will be a total lock for the Hall of Fame when he’s done and it’s a first ballot election at that. He will also go into the books as the greatest goal scorer that this sport has and will ever see. It’s going to take one hell of a hockey player to come along and come close to doing anything close to what The Great Eight has done. Congratulations Alex on hitting the 1,000 career goal mark!