Washington Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin is in pursuit of the NHL's all-time goalscoring record. After scoring the 800th goal of his career in a hat-trick performance against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, Ovechkin made an eye-opening move indicating he's all-in on trying to dethrone Wayne Gretzky's longstanding record of 894 goals. Via ESPN's Emily Kaplan, Alex Ovechkin has trademarked âTHE GR8 CHASE,â which is a âmultilayered marketing and business platformâ which will include rollouts of licensed products that can be purchased by fans.
Ovechkin currently sits third all-time on the NHL's goalscoring leaderboards. Wayne Gretzky is the top dog with 894 career goals, while Gordie Howe is in second at 801. Ovechkin is hot on Howe's heels, sitting at 800 goals heading into Thursday's tilt with the Dallas Stars.
He's on a torrid pace in 2022-23, too. Ovechkin has 20 goals in his first 31 games this season, putting him on a 52-53 goal pace for the year. At that pace, Ovechkin could realistically finish the season with around 830 goals, meaning he'd be roughly 60 shy of Gretzky's record. That would put Ovi on track to catch Gretzky at some point during the 2024-25 NHL season, at which point he'd be 39.
The 37-year-old still looks to be at or close to the top of his game, and despite his career likely nearing its end, he's indicated his desire to keep playing and try to win another championship with the Capitals. The Caps won the Stanley Cup in 2017-18 but have lost in the first round of the NHL Playoffs in each season since then.
Excluding the COVID-19-shortened season in 2020, Alex Ovechkin has scored 48+ goals in each of the last four seasons, and could make it five in a row this season. He's led the NHL in scoring in nine of his 18 seasons in the league.
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