Sniper — fire: what records can Ovechkin break in his last season overseas

After the 2024/25 season, marked by Alexander Ovechkin's great pursuit of Wayne Gretzky's record, the upcoming championship is expected to be less exciting in terms of the player's major achievements. Nevertheless, in the new season, which is likely to be Ovi's last in the NHL, the Washington captain can improve a number of statistical indicators. For more information, see the Izvestia article.

Closer to spring, the forward, who recently celebrated his 40th birthday, can get close to the legendary Canadian in terms of goals in the regular championships and playoffs.

Ovi is currently 42 goals behind Wayne (974 against 1016). Interestingly, Alexander's gap was the same a year ago (but in a different race). As we recall, it took several months to close the gap.

In theory, Ovechkin can beat Gretzky in terms of the number of matches with two or more goals. Gretzky has 189, Ovechkin has 179. However, to do this, Alexander will need to shoot a double 10 times — that is, to achieve sniper performance, which has not been seen since the 2019/20 season, when he collected a magnificent collection of four hat-tricks and nine doubles.

Ovechkin, who set a league record for most goals a long time ago, can already take second place in the first match in terms of goals in equal squads. Now the Russian shares this line with Gordie Howe, who played in the NHL much longer. However, Alexander is very far from the first place — Gretzky is ahead of the Russian by 51 goals.

Ovechkin will probably beat Howe in home goals as well. Right now, the most unwelcome guest in NHL history is nine goals behind Mr. Hockey and 52 goals behind Gretzky. At the same time, Ovi is unique in that he is the only great sniper who scores more often on other people's courts: 457 out of 897.

But already in the fall, we are planning a celebration of Ovechkin's entry into the top ten scorers in the history of the NHL. The Russian striker currently ranks 11th in goal + pass ratio (1,623) and is only 18 points behind Joe Sakic. According to this indicator, Gretzky is almost unattainable — 2,875 points.

The Russian superstar will have another great chance to surpass Gretzky in the list of the best scorers in the history of a franchise. But it should be mentioned that for Alexander, his entire overseas career is connected with Washington, whereas Wayne spent many productive years in the league after Edmonton. Crosby, by the way, will become only the fourth forward to score 1,700 points in the same colors, after Lemieux and two Detroit legends — Gordie Howe and Steve Yzerman. Another Russian is expected to be in the top ten in the near future — the eternal "penguin" Evgeni Malkin is only 13 points behind Mike Modano.

With an ideal combination of circumstances, Ovechkin will finish the 2025/26 regular season third in history in terms of the number of matches for one team. Alexander should change the 1,500-game mark in October, and then gradually surpass the results of Steve Yzerman, Ray Burke, Shane Doane, Alex Delvecchio and Nicklas Lidstrom. But Howe's numbers will only be raised if the contract is extended for a couple of years, which so far seems unlikely.

In conclusion, we can mention one more nomination, in which a fierce fight for the record is expected. Ovechkin has participated 82 times in 20 seasons in a combination that ended in an empty-net goal. Alexander the Great ranks third in history in terms of points scored in such a situation. Gretzky, who lost his chances to improve the result a long time ago, has 85 points, Sidney Crosby has 86.