Alexander Ovechkin, hockey player. Biography
Alexander Ovechkin was born in 1985 in Moscow. Since childhood, his life has been inextricably linked with sports.
The mother of the future hockey player Tatiana Ovechkina was a professional basketball player. She played in the USSR women's national team, where she won the title of Olympic champion twice, world champion once and European champion six times. She also played for the Dynamo Moscow club, and after her career ended, she became a coach there.
Alexander's father Mikhail Ovechkin played in the Dynamo football team, but was forced to interrupt his career as a player due to injury. Nevertheless, he did not leave the blue and white club, becoming a children's coach at the Dynamo football school.
Alexander is the youngest child in the family. His older brother Sergey died in a car accident in 1995, when the aspiring athlete was only 10 years old. It was a heavy blow for the boy, because it was thanks to Sergei's support that he began to actively engage in hockey. Ovechkin dedicated his NHL debut goal to his brother in 2005.
Alexander's middle brother Mikhail has been involved in breeding work for the Dynamo women's basketball team for six years. In 2005, he moved to the United States and got a position as an analytical manager for the Washington Mystics women's basketball team.
Alexander Ovechkin — career in Russia
Ovechkin started playing hockey at the age of eight. Two years later, he became a pupil of the Dynamo children's sports school, and in 2000 he joined the club's adult team. In 2001, the 16-year-old athlete made his debut in the Russian Super League, becoming the youngest participant in the tournament.
Ovechkin played his first full season for the Blue and White team in 2002-2003. During this time, he participated in 40 matches, scored eight goals and made seven assists. The hockey player played for Dynamo until the end of the 2004/2005 season, following which the capital club won the Russian championship.
Ovechkin's success on the ice paved the way for him to join the national team. The athlete was included in the main Russian national team in 2003. Before that, he managed to perform brilliantly for the junior national team (silver at the World Championships in 2002 and bronze in 2003). Together with the Russian team, the hockey player participated in the Olympic Games in 2006, 2010 and 2014, as well as in 13 world championships.
In 2014, Ovechkin was appointed captain of the national team and led his team to victory at the World Cup in Minsk. In total, he played 106 matches for the national team, in which he scored 45 goals and made 34 assists.
In the 2012/2013 season, Ovechkin played for Dynamo again due to the prolonged lockout in the NHL. Although he did not play in the playoffs, he was awarded the Gagarin Cup with the Moscow team at the end of the season.
Alexander Ovechkin — career in the NHL
In 2004, Ovechkin began preparing for a move to the NHL — the Washington Capitals selected him as the first pick in the draft. However, the 2004/2005 season was completely canceled due to the lockout, so the hockey player stayed in Russia for a while. The Omsk Avangard club took advantage of this by offering the athlete a new contract on favorable terms. After that, Dynamo, not wanting to lose a promising player, put forward a similar proposal. The trial between the two clubs went to court, and the media called it the "Ovechkin Case."
In July 2005, Ovechkin announced that he was going to sign a contract with Washington, and Dynamo, by court order, retained all rights to the athlete.
Ovechkin played his first NHL game brilliantly, scoring a double against the Columbus Blue Jackets and using a powerful power play against Radoslav Sukha. As the athlete himself later recalled, this was how he wanted to declare himself in the new team from the very beginning. The efforts of the Russian hockey player were fully justified — the game ended with a score of 3:2 in favor of Washington.
Following the results of his NHL debut season, Ovechkin received the Calder Trophy, which is awarded to the best newcomers. He played 81 games in the regular season and scored 52 goals. The following year, his team reached the playoffs for the first time in several years and has been in it regularly since (with the exception of the 2013/2014 season). And in the 2007/2008 season, the athlete was recognized as the best scorer and sniper of the league, receiving four individual awards at once: the Art Ross Trophy and Richard Trophy, as well as the Hart Trophy and Lester Pearson Award.
In 2010, Ovechkin became the captain of the Washington Capitals. Under his leadership, the team won the President's Cup, finishing the regular season with the most points.
The year 2018 became truly significant in Ovechkin's career, when the Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup for the first time in the club's history. At the same time, the Russian athlete was recognized as the most valuable player of the playoffs, scoring 15 goals in 24 matches. In July of the same year, the hockey player received the Excellence in Sports Performance Annual Award as America's best athlete. He became the first NHL player and the second European to receive this award.
In 2021, Ovechkin extended his contract with the Washington Capitals for five years. In March 2025, the hockey player told Izvestia that after the end of his contract with the American club, he was considering the possibility of returning to Dynamo. At the same time, the athlete noted that in five years he would like to devote all his time to his family.
Alexander Ovechkin — records
Ovechkin is considered one of the best players in the history of the NHL. He became the best sniper of the season nine times and the most valuable player three times. He has set several records during his career. At the end of the 2023/2024 season, the athlete became the first player to score 30 goals in 18 seasons. He also ranks first in the number of seasons with 40 or more goals (13).
In addition, Ovechkin holds the record for the most shots on target in his career — he had 6798 of them. In March 2025, the athlete became the first hockey player in NHL history to score 1,600 points with 886 goals. In second place in terms of the number of goals at the time of reaching this mark is Canadian Gordon Howe, who managed to score 694 goals.
Ovechkin and Gretzky's record
In 2025, the Russian hockey player came close to achieving a record number of goals in the regular NHL championships. For many years, the best result remained with Canadian athlete Wayne Gretzky, who was able to score 894 goals in his career. In March, Ovechkin had only nine goals left to surpass his predecessor.
On April 5, during a match against the Chicago Hockey Club of the NHL regular season, Ovechkin repeated Gretzky's record by scoring the 894th goal of his career. The next day, in a match against the New York Islanders, the Russian hockey player surpassed his Canadian counterpart, scoring the 895th goal. Thus, he became the best sniper in the history of the league.
In an interview with Sportsnet, Ovechkin called his record-breaking goal "a great moment."
"Yes, this is an important moment for hockey. It's a great moment for my family, myself, this organization, and my teammates. And yes, of course, this is very important," said the athlete.
He also added that he was optimistic about this event, because he would finally stop being asked when Gretzky's record would be broken.
Gretzky himself personally congratulated Ovechkin on his historic achievement. During the ceremony at the UBS Arena in New York, he stressed that the Russian hockey player's record is special.
"I can tell you firsthand, I know how difficult it is to achieve 894, 895 goals — it's something special. I congratulate not only Alexander, but also his mom and dad, his family, his wife and children. When I broke the record, my two children were about the same age as his boys. So these are kind of memories for me, and I'm so happy that my two sons are here today," he said.
Ovechkin was also congratulated by NHL commissioner Gary Battman and Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis. The athlete's achievement was celebrated at the Russian embassies in Canada and the United States.
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