Climbing the Books: Washington Capitals Career Milestones Reached in 2018-2019

The 2018-2019 was a good season for the Capitals, although they fell short of their ultimate goal of repeating as Stanley Cup champions. During the regular season, many of the team’s players managed to reach career milestones. Prior to the season, NoVa Caps looked at potential player milestones (here) that could be reached during the 2018-19 season and in this piece, NoVa Caps’ Diane Doyle takes a look at the milestones reached by players this season.

Alex Ovechkin Milestones

At the start of the 2018-19 season, Alexander Ovechkin had scored 607 goals, which was the most by any player in Washington Capitals’ history, first among active NHL players, and 19th on the NHL’s All-Time list. During the season, he passed Dino Ciccarelli, Bobby Hull, Joe Sakic, Jarome Iginla, Dave Andreychuk, and Brendan Shanahan. Ovechkin scored his 650^th career goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs on February 21. He passed Shanahan with two goals on March 30 against Tampa Bay. He currently has 658 career goals, which ranks 13th on the All-Time Goals Scored list and first among active players.
Going into the 2018-19 season, Ovechkin had recorded 1,122 total career points in his NHL career and ranked 59th on the All-Time list and third among active players. During the season, he passed Bernie Federko, Marian Hossa, Nicklas Lidstrom, Daniel Alfredsson, Michel Goulet, Patrick Marleau, Bobby Hull, Sergei Fedorov, Rod Brind’Amour, Dino Ciccarelli, Vincent Damphouse, Bernie Nicholls, and Bobby Clark. Ovechkin recorded his 1,180^th point on February 5, which allowed him to pass Sergei Fedorov for most points by a Russian-born player. Ovechkin recorded his 1,200^th point on the road against the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 12. He currently has 1,211 points, good enough for first on the Caps’ All-Time list and third among active players, trailing only Joe Thornton (1,427) and Sidney Crosby (1,216). He currently sits at 45th on the All-Time list for total career points.
Going into the 2018-19 season, Ovechkin had 515 assists, which ranked second on the Caps’ franchise list and 14th among active players. He now has 553 assists, which puts him at 10th on the Active list and 114th on the All-Time List
Going into the 2018-19 season, Ovechkin had played in 1,003 games, which was the most in the history of the franchise and ranked 22nd among all active players. He has now played in 1,084 games, which ranks 10th among active players, seventh among active forwards, and sixth among Russian-born players.
Going into the season, Ovechkin had scored 102 game-winning goals, which ranked first among active players and eighth on the All-Time List. He now has 107 game-winning goals, which ranks seventh on the All-Time list. In the process, he passed Patrick Marleau.
When the season started, Ovechkin had 229 career power play goals, which ranks him at first on the Capitals’ All-Time franchise list, first among active players, and 10th on the All-Time list. He now has 247 power play goals, which keeps him in first on the Capitals’ All-Time franchise list and active players, but is now tied for fourth all-time with Luc Robitaille. During the season, he passed Dino Ciccarelli, Marcel Dionne, Mario Lemieux, Brendan Shanahan, and Phil Esposito.
When the season started, Ovechkin had 120 multi-goal games. He now has 132 multi-goal games. In the process, he passed Jari Kurri, Bobby Hull, Mark Messier, Steve Yzerman, Dino Ciccarelli, Mike Bossy, Jaromir Jagr, and Teemu Selanne on the All-Time list. By passing Teemu Selanne, he moved into first on the All-Time list for multi-goal games scored by a European-born player.
Prior to the 2018-19 season, Ovechkin had 20 career hat tricks and was tied for 13th on the All-Time list with Darryl Sittler and Pavel Bure. This season, he had three hat tricks and is now tied with Jari Kurri for 10th all-time with 23, passing Glenn Anderson, Rick Martin, and Teemu Selanne.
Ovechkin scored his 30^thgoal on January 3, 2019, in a road game against the St. Louis Blues. This marked the 14th consecutive year he has scored at least 30 goals. He and Mike Gartner are the only two players who have scored 30 goals in 14 consecutive seasons to start their career. Jaromir Jagr is the only other player who has scored 30 in at least 14 consecutive seasons, although his streak did not start until his second year in the NHL.
Ovechkin scored his 40th goal of the 2018-19 season against the Anaheim Ducks on the road on February 17, joining Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, and Marcel Dionne as the only players to score 40 or more goals in a season for at least 10 seasons
Ovechkin scored his 45^th goal of the year on March 1, setting an NHL record as the first player with 10 seasons of 45 goals or more
Ovechkin scored his 50^thgoal of the year on the road against Tampa Bay on March 30. This gives him eight seasons of scoring 50 or more goals, which is second to only Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy
Ovechkin scored the 400^thcareer even-strength goal of his NHL career at home against the San Jose Sharks on January 22.

Nicklas Backstrom Milestones

Before the season, Backstrom had scored 209 goals and ranked fifth on the Caps’ All-Time Goals List. He now has 231 goals and ranks fourth on the Caps’ All-Time list, passing Mike Ridley and currently ranks 46th among active players for goals scored in a career. He also ranks 19th in goals among Swedish-born players, passing Thomas Gradin, Michael Nylander, and Patrik Sundstrom in career goals.
Going into the 2018-19 season, Backstrom had 799 points in his NHL career. He now has 873 career points. He is only the third player to pass 800 career points in Capitals’ franchise history, after Ovechkin and Peter Bondra. He passed Bondra in points on 11/26/2018. He was the first player in his draft class (2006) to record his 800^th point, doing so on Opening Night. He now ranks eighth in career points among Swedish-born players, passing Thomas Steen, Tomas Sandstrom, and Markus Naslund in career points this season.
Before the season started, Backstrom had 590 career assists, which ranked first in franchise history and sixth among active players. He now has 642 career assists. He is tied at 67th on the All-Time list with Martin St. Louis. He recorded his 600th career NHL/Capitals assist on 10/22/2018 in a road game against Vancouver. He now ranks sixth in assists by a Swedish-born player, passing Henrik Zetterberg, Peter Forsberg, and Borje Salming in career assists.
At the beginning of the 2018-19 season, Backstrom had played in 815 NHL games, which ranked seventh in franchise history. At the end of the season, that number had risen to 895 games, which is now fifth in franchise history, as he passed Dale Hunter and Michal Pivonka this season. He ranks 25th for Swedish-born players, 34th among active forwards, and 52nd among active players,
At the start of the 2018-19 season, Backstrom had 65 power play goals. He scored seven power play goals during the 2018-19 season and is now tied for 34th all-time among active players with Justin Williams, tied for fourth on the franchise list with Dale Hunter, and tied at 13th among Swedish-born players with Fredrik Olausson.
At the start of the 2018-19 season, Backstrom had 266 power play assists. During 2018-19, he had 18 power play assists and passed Brad Richards (282) for 50th on the all-time power play assist list. He now has 284 power play assists

Other NHL Games Played Milestones

Before the season started, defenseman John Carlson had played in 608 games and was 17^th on the Caps’ all-time list in games played, after the season, he has played in 688 games, now ranking 13^th on the Capitals’ all-time list, passing Sylvain Cote, Brendan Will, Bengt-Ake Gustaffson, Sergei Gonchar, and Kevin Hatcher in games played for the franchise. He now sits in third place on the franchise list for games played by a defenseman, behind only Calle Johansson and Rod Langway. He also ranks 35th among active American-born players and 11th among active American-born defensemen.
Before the season started, defenseman Brooks Orpik had played in 982 games, which ranked 31st on the list of Games Played by Active Players and eighth among active defensemen. He played in his 1,000^th career game on January 14 against the St. Louis Blues. After the season, his games played number sits at 1,035 games, which ranks 20th on the list of active players, 10th among active defensemen, 40th among American-born players, and third among active American-born defensemen.
Before the season started, defenseman Matt Niskanen had played in 801 games during his NHL career. After the season, that numbers stand at 881 games, which ranks 18th among active defensemen, 55th among active players, 70th among American-born players, and 15th among active American-born players.
Prior to this season, right wing T. J. Oshie had played 665 games in his NHL career. He played in his 700^th career game on the road against the Nashville Predators on January 15. After the season, Oshie has played in 734 games, ranks 70th among active forwards, and 30th among active American-born forwards.
Prior to this season, center Lars Eller had played in 604 games during his NHL career and ranked 116th among all active forwards. He now has played 685 games and ranks 80th among active forwards.
Prior to this season, right wing Tom Wilson had played in 391 NHL games. He played in his 400th game on 11/30/2018. At the end of the season, he had played 454 games and ranked 33rd on the All-Time list of games played in franchise history and 20th among forwards. .
Prior to this season, defenseman Dmitry Orlov had played 365 games during his NHL career. He played in his 400^th game on 12/29/2018 in a road game against Ottawa. After the season, he has played 447 games and now ranks 36th overall and 14th among defensemen in games played in franchise history. Only one other Russian has played in more games for the franchise on defense (Sergei Gonchar)
Prior to the season, right wing Brett Connolly had played in 346 games in his NHL career. He played in his 400^th game against the Colorado Avalanche on February 7.
Prior to the season, center Evgeny Kuznetsov had played in 340 games during his NHL career. He played in his 400^th game on March 6 against the Philadelphia Flyers. He has now played in 416 games. He now ranks 43rd in franchise history in games played and 27th among forwards.
Andre Burakovsky played in his 300th career game at home against the Colorado Avalanche on February 7.
Dmitrij Jaskin played in his 300th career game at home against the Florida Panthers on February 9
Nick Jensen played in his 200th career game on the road against the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 16
Jakub Vrana played in his 100th career game on October 17 at home against the New York Rangers
Christian Djoos played in his 100th career game on the road against the New Jersey Devils on March 19

Other Offensive Milestones

Prior to the season, Evgeny Kuznetsov had scored 80 career goals. He recorded his 100^th career goal at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 20 and now sits at 101 goals, which ranks 29th in franchise history and 25th among forwards.
Prior to the season, Kuznetsov had 265 career points. He recorded his 300th career point on 1/6/2019 in a road game against the Detroit Red Wings and now has 337 career points, which ranks 123rd among active players.
Prior to the season, Kuznetsov had 185 career assists. He recorded his 200th career assist on 11/13/2018 in road game against the Minnesota Wild and now has 236 assists, which ranks 19th in franchise history and 12th among forwards. He passed Bobby Carpenter (207), Alexander Semin (211), and Dave Christian (224) on the franchise assist list.
Prior to the season, John Carlson had 333 points, which ranked 22nd in Capitals franchise history for career points and 23rd among active NHL defensemen. He recorded his recorded his 400th career point at home against the Carolina Hurricanes on March 26. He now has 403 career points, which ranks 11th in franchise history in points, fifth among defensemen, 19th among active defensemen, fourth among American-born defensemen who are still active, and 25th among active American-born players.
Prior to the season, Carlson had 256 assists, which ranked 15th on the Capitals’ All-Time List, sixth among defensemen in franchise history, 23rd among active NHL defensemen, and 96th among active NHL players. He recorded his 300th career assist on the road against the Los Angeles Kings on February 18. He now has 303 assists, which ranks 11th on the franchise list, third among defensemen in franchise history, 18th among active defensemen, and fourth among active American-born defensemen
Prior to the season, Matt Niskanen had 298 career points. He recorded his 300^th career point against the Vegas Golden Knights on October 10. He now has 323 points, which ranks 27th among active defensemen and seventh among active American-born defensemen.
Prior to the season, T.J. Oshie had scored 187 goals, which ranked 70th in goals among active forwards, and 72nd among all active players. He scored his 200th career goal at home against the Philadelphia Flyers on January 8. He now has 212 goals, which ranks 52nd among active players, 52nd among active forwards, and 15th among active American-born players.
Prior to the season, Oshie had 277 career assists. He recorded his 300^th career assist on the road against the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 12. He now has 306 assists, which ranks 46th among active forwards, 65th among active players, and 16th among active American-born players and 12th among active American-born forwards.
Prior to the season, Oshie had 464 career points. He earned his 500^th career point against the San Jose Sharks on the road on February 14 and now has 518 career points. He ranks 53rd among active players, 45th among active forwards, 16th among active American-born players, and 13th among active American-born forwards.
Prior to the season, Dmitry Orlov had 94 assists. He recorded his 100th career assist on 11/19/2018 in a road game against Montreal. He now has 120 career assists.
Devante Smith-Pelly recorded his 100th career point on 12/15/2018 at home against Buffalo. He now has 101 career points.
Prior to the season, Lars Eller had 219 career points. He recorded his 250^th career point on March 8 against the New Jersey Devils and now has 255 career points.

Other Milestones

Braden Holtby recorded his 10,000th career save on 12/2/2018 at home against the Anaheim Ducks.
Braden Holtby recorded his 250th career win on the road against the Philadelphia Flyers on March 6. He is the second-fastest goaltender to reach 200 wins, behind only Ken Dryden. Holtby needed 409 games to reach that milestone while Dryden needed only 381.
Braden Holtby played in his 400^thcareer game at home against the Florida Panthers on February 9

By Diane Doyle