Photo: Washington Capitals

On Saturday night against the Calgary Flames Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin played in his 1,300th NHL game. He becomes the 14th individual to do so with a single franchise. Overall, he ranks 66th in games played in NHL history.

The 2004 first overall pick (he will be just the second first overall pick to play 1,300, after Hall of Famer Mike Modano) has been remarkably durable during his NHL career, and among players who have reached 1,300 NHL contests, he ranks behind only Wayne Gretzky in Goals Scored (853) at the time of the milestone, and is ninth in Points among Players who played in as many contests; he is second only to former Capitals defenseman Sergei Gonchar among Russian-born players in Games Played (he will likely surpass Gonchar’s 1,316 GP in the near future).

CAPS TODAY: Alex Ovechkin is expected to play in his 1,300th career regular season game tonight against the Flames. Ovechkin will become the 14th player in NHL history to play 1,300 games with one franchise. More info & #Caps clips at https://t.co/HecIC0Fa5z pic.twitter.com/wWvDK5JCdU

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) December 3, 2022

This year has been full of milestones for Ovechkin, with more to come. On Tuesday, November 29, he broke a tie with Gretzky for most goals scored on the road. On November 5, he scored his 787th career goal, which passed Gordie Howe for most goals scored with a single franchise. He is currently just seven (7) goals from reaching the 800-goal threshold, eight (8) from tying Howe for second all-time in Goals, and nine from taking sole possession of second.

The next players in terms of games played with a single franchise that the Capitals’ captain can surpass are brothers Daniel (1,306) and Henrik (1,330) Sedin, who were both inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame last month.

Ovechkin currently ranks 18th all-time in Points with 1,435; Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby ranks 17th with 1,441, Teemu Selanne (1,457) ranks 16th and Chicago Blackhawk great Stan Mikita (1,467) ranks 15th.

Alex Ovechkin is playing in his 1,300th career game tonight. Ovechkin is the 14th player in NHL history to play 1,300 games with one team and the second first overall pick to play in 1,300 games with the team that drafted them (Mike Modano: Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars). pic.twitter.com/WpyiCPqY9n

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) December 4, 2022

By Diane Doyle