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When it comes to NHL greats, there is no player greater than Wayne Gretzky, appropriately nicknamed The Great One. The NHL’s greatest player of all-time is widely respected around the league and holds dozens of NHL records, topped by his sitting atop the Goals (894), Assists (1,963), and Points (2,857) leader boards in the annals of league history. On Sunday afternoon, less than 24 hours after Washington Capitals’ captain Alex Ovechkin scored his 700th career goal, The Great One himself took to social media to congratulate the 34-year Caps superstar.
While Gretzky’s goal total has long been considered untouchable, Ovechkin’s continued production and goal-scoring rate, combined with his reaching 700 goals, has continued to flame murmurings that The Great Eight might just be able to catch The Great One when all is said and done. Gretzky, who has stated before his desire for Ovechkin to break his record, took to Twitter on Sunday afternoon to congratulate Ovechkin on reaching the seven-century mark in Goals:
Congrats on 700 Alex, @ovi8! You’re truly one of the all-time greats. See you at 800 @NHL
— Wayne Gretzky (@WayneGretzky) February 23, 2020
Ovechkin became the second-fastest player (1,444 games) after Gretzky to reach the 700-goal plateau (886 games) with a goal against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday afternoon. Ovechkin also went from 600 to 700 goals in 14 fewer games (155) than Gretzky (169).
NHL
By Michael Fleetwood
I think people need to do some thinking on Ovie’s going break the goals record! He’ll need to average @ least 30 for next 6 seasons to get close. Being 34 now that mean he’d be 40 when he’s close to the 894 number. With both Backstrom & Carlson both being over 30 it would also mean thier production would also have to keep pace & be injury free for that same time period! Most players’ #’s usually drop off once they get on down side of 35, look at Gretzky’s last 5 years especially his #’s after age 35! All the power to him but other thing to remember these #’s don’t include WHA scoring totals! As Gordie Howe remarked when Gretzky was trying to get past the all-time points record if WHA totals were included it would still take few more years for Wayne to really pass him! Which he did.
No question, it won’t be an easy task. However, i can see firing power play one-timer from the office until he is 40. Other goal “types” may fall off, but I think he’s still able to put up lrparge numbers until he’s 40.
Gretzky’s huge drop was more due to the fact that he was no longer playing in the high-flying era of the 80s and early 90s, Scoring dropped off a cliff in the 97-2003 seasons. OV won’t have that problem with scoring actually increasing year over year over the past few seasons. He has at least 2 more 45+ seasons him in as well, which makes the total a lot more achievable. I bet he’s number 2 all time somewhere at the end of his age 36 season. At that point he just needs around 30 for 3. Barring a big injury or yet another lockout, that record is gone in 5 seasons.
Record will be broken long before the end of the 2024-25 regular season.