Washington Capitals: Alex Ovechkin Will Break A Goal Scoring Record This Season

If you’re an unbiased hockey fan, I think you can easily and readily admit that Alex Ovechkin is the best goal scorer in the history of the National Hockey League. He may not have scored the most goals in the history of the league (yet) but when you compare how many, and how hard it is to score goals now compared to previous generations the fact that Ovechkin even has a chance to catch Wayne Gretzky’s record is unbelievable.

He may not have the record, but seemingly with every other goal you have television stations around the world showing graphics of Ovechkin breaking another record or passing another hall of fame name on an all time list.

This season will be no different. While most are looking at the big number of 894 that number will take several seasons to catch. Still, Ovechkin can, and likely will, barring something unfortunate happening, pass a couple of all time greats on the all time goals list.

Ovechkin needs just two goals to pass Marcel Dionne for fifth all time. That will put him at 732. At that point he will be just nine goals away from fourth place and Brett Hull. After that, he can set his sights on Jaromir Jagr and his 766 goals. To pass that number Ovechkin will need 37 goals this season. That being a very doable number for “The Great Eight”.

Something that is very impressive about Ovechkin passing all these legends is the amount of games he’s played compared to  how many these legends played in their entire careers. Jagr for example played in 1,733 career NHL games. Ovechkin is just 36 goals behind him and he has played in 1,197 games so far.

While he is passing all these legends, he isn’t technically breaking their records. That term is usually reserved for when you pass the guy holding down first place. However, if all goes according to plan this season, Ovechkin will break a goal scoring record this season.

Going into this season Ovechkin has scored 269 power play goals. He will need just six power play goals to pass Dave Andreychuk and officially become the greatest power play goal scorer of all time. Even if some already consider him the best in the department as well.

If all goes well this season it’s only a matter of time before this record falls. The fewest PPG’s Ovechkin has scored in a season is 7, that came in perhaps his most challenging season as an NHL player back in 2010-11. He scored on the man advantage 9 times last season and he played in only 45 games in a shortened NHL season.

At the end of the day, it’s when not if at this point. While it may not be the record everyone is talking about these days it’s a record nonetheless. In a matter of months we’re going to be seeing graphics on our TV’s that shows Ovechkin being the best goal scorer in another category.

Hockey fans better get used to seeing Alex Ovechkin at the top of these goal scoring charts. He’ll be at the top of more than one, and he will be there for a long, long time most likely.