Ovechkin is chasing Gretzky's great record. What you need to know

Russian hockey player Alexander Ovechkin has come close to breaking Canadian Wayne Gretzky's record for goals in the National Hockey League regular season. He has seven goals left to score before one of the main achievements in the history of the sport. What is the significance of this achievement and how it became possible — in the material of Izvestia.

What kind of chase is Ovechkin leading

It's no exaggeration to say that 2025 will go down in sports history as the year Ovechkin chased Gretzky's scoring record. This is one of the main achievements in hockey, which used to be classified as eternal. In the National Hockey League (NHL), in which there is a correspondence struggle between two hockey players, this is by far the most anticipated event, pushing into the background the usual struggle of clubs with each other.

• Ovechkin has currently scored 888 goals in his NHL regular season career. He still needs to score six more goals to repeat the record, or seven to surpass it. The main intrigue is related to when exactly this will happen.

Ovechkin's Washington Capitals club will play 13 more games this season, including five at home. If he keeps shooting goals at his current pace, the record will be broken on April 12, three games before the end of the season. If this time is not enough, then we will have to wait until next fall for a historic hockey event.

What is the greatness of Gretzky's record

• Gretzky is unequivocally recognized as the greatest hockey player in history. He played in the National Hockey League from 1979 to 1999, played 1,487 games in the regular season and another 208 in the playoffs. Gretzky has won the NHL's main trophy, the Stanley Cup, four times in his career, but he is primarily known for his individual achievements. When the Canadian hockey player retired in 1999, he was declared the owner of 61 official NHL records — 40 in the regular season, 15 in the playoffs and six in all-star games.

• The main thing in Gretzky's career is that he became the top scorer (goals and assists), the best sniper (goals only) and the best assistant (assists only) of the regular NHL seasons. In total, he scored 2,857 points, scored 894 goals and made 1,963 assists. According to each of these indicators, Gretzky became not only the best, but also seriously broke away from any competitor. When he finished his career, he was ahead of the previous hockey star Gordie Howe by 1007 points, 93 goals and 914 assists — the gap exceeded 1.5 times in the first and third indicators. Even if he hadn't scored a single goal in his career, he would still be the top scorer with assists alone. In the lists of the greatest sports records, which are periodically determined by the media, Gretzky's figures are invariably ahead.

• In 26 years, other hockey players have managed to break only five official Gretzky records, with Ovechkin taking one achievement — he beat the Canadian in the number of regular seasons with 40 goals (13 against 12). As for the absolute figures in points, goals and assists, the rest of the hockey players managed to catch up with Howe at best, but no one got close to Gretzky. Paradoxically, after his career ended, he even gained another record. Another Canadian, Mario Lemieux, was the best in the average number of assists per match (2,005), but when he resumed his career in 2000, he lowered this figure, and then Gretzky came out on top (1,921).

Why is Gretzky so productive

• Gretzky had a great talent, thanks to which he could secure the championship in a variety of personal statistical indicators. But there were a number of other factors that acted as a kind of catalysts and made many of Gretzky's records not just exceptional, but impossible to overcome. His career flourished in the 1980s and early 1990s, which are considered an entire era in professional hockey.

• At that time, the NHL was particularly productive. Matches in which more than ten goals could be scored (and up to two assists are allowed for each of them) were an ordinary event. Gretzky also played in the 1980s for one of the greatest teams in the history of the Edmonton Oilers, with whom he won four Stanley Cups in five years.

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• The peculiarity of that time was that stars of the first magnitude like Gretzky were already appearing, but the overall level of the teams was not sufficiently balanced. The third pair of defenders and the fourth three of forwards were not yet skilled enough, as they are now, so players of completely different qualifications could meet on the ice. This made it possible to build the game from the attack and score almost as many points as you want. In addition, the judges were much more often removed for violations, allowing them to constantly play the majority.

• The role of the goalkeeper was also noticeably different at that time. Their equipment was smaller in size, so the probability of hitting the puck was simply higher. There were no modern lightweight materials, so the goalkeeper had to be either clumsy or suffer great pain from being hit by a flying projectile. Goalkeepers in general were not given proper attention in clubs, so they might not even have their own coaches. The difference in salaries also affected — a big player with the right size for a goalkeeper preferred to play in the field rather than in the goal. Finally, the goalkeepers simply did not have the basic playing technique for our days, they did not know how to fall under the pucks and play on their knees in order to cover the goal area as effectively as possible.

• The 1990s brought changes in hockey. The teams began to play defensively, the average skill of goalkeepers and defenders increased, and more foreign players appeared, including from Russia, the Czech Republic, and Finland, who introduced their own characteristics and contradicted the previous attacking style. At this time, Gretzky himself was no longer showing mind-boggling numbers, like 215 points per season from 80 matches or four goals in one period. In the 2000s, the introduction of a salary cap and growing competition lowered the NHL's performance to historical levels, making Gretzky's records eternal.

How Ovechkin manages to break the record

• In this regard, it is especially valuable that one of Gretzky's three greatest records is still under threat. Ovechkin got so close to the Canadian that he overshadowed everything else that happens in the league.

• There is a certain logic in the fact that of all Gretzky's achievements, it is the goal that will be beaten. Although he was a central striker, his performance was based not on goals, but on assists. Gretzky was not a pure sniper, and in the history of the NHL there are those who hit the puck much better than him. His average per match is 0.6 goals, and this is only seventh in the league. It became an absolute record due to the fact that Gretzky played 1,487 games on the ice — other snipers do not have even a thousand games.

Ovechkin, on the other hand, is a natural sniper, capable of ending any game situation with a goal. At the Washington Capitals, he immediately gained a lot of trust and the opportunity to play the way he sees fit. Moreover, the whole team began to adapt to him so that he could realize his full scoring potential. As a result, Ovechkin laid the foundation for a future record in the early seasons. Although it would have been more beneficial for his team if he had played in a more diverse way and given the puck to his partners more often, he still remained a sniper.

• An important factor was that when the NHL's performance dropped to a minimum, some steps were taken to increase it slightly. Goalkeepers had their equipment reduced, fielders were allowed more comfortable sticks, more dynamic 3-on-3 overtimes appeared, and the expansion of the league slightly lowered the overall skill level. Finally, even skating goals became allowed.

• All of this coincided with a time when Ovechkin's stats were bound to get worse for natural reasons. But in the end, he maintained the pace that Gretzky himself maintained. A few years ago, it became obvious that the opportunity to break the record depends only on how many more matches Ovechkin has time to play. It is worth recalling here that during his career, the NHL went through a lockout twice, when games were not played due to the lack of an agreement between the league and the hockey players. The Russian could have played almost 100 more matches if not for this circumstance, which Gretzky did not encounter.

• Washington's wise management, which selected ideal partners for Ovechkin and did not put pressure on its main star, and modern achievements in medicine and physiology, which extended the forward's athletic age, helped to compensate for losses due to the lockout. At 39, Ovechkin continues to be one of the best NHL players, while Gretzky finished his career in 38. The current season is particularly significant for these two factors. When Ovechkin broke his leg in November 2024, he was out for only 16 matches. At the same time, his team performed so well that it had already completed the tasks for the season a long time ago and could allow Ovechkin to focus on chasing Gretzky.