Alex Ovechkin continues to be an unreal goal-scorer, and age is nothing but a number for him.
He scored a hat trick on Tuesday night, and with goal No. 3 on the night against the Chicago Blackhawks, he notched 800 goals in his unbelievable career.
Next is Gordie Howe (801). And after that? He’s got his eyes set on Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record of 894 goals.
So when could he do that?
First, you have to assume that he stays healthy as his chase continues. Let’s use last year’s number of 77 games played (in which he scored 50 times!) as what he’ll play this year, which would put him around 49 goals (AT AGE 37!!). That gets him to 829.
Let’s do 77 games again and maybe guess that he takes a slight step back … how does 40 goals sound? We get to 869.
That means he’d need “just” 26 goals at age 39 to pass Gretzky in 2024-25.
That was extremely unscientific, but he’s 94 goals away. As long as he keeps playing at even 85 percent of the level he’s playing at right now, he’s got more than a shot.
800th career goal for Alexander Ovechkin. He is the 3rd player in history to do so.
He will tie Gordie Howe for second all time with his next goal. He will pass Wayne Gretzky in a couple of years. What a LEGEND.
— Vinnie Parise (@VinnieParise) December 14, 2022
If Ovechkin can continue to score at his career pace* (he's shown us no reason he cannot) and continues to be extremely durable, we'll all be watching him pass Gretzky around Thanksgiving in 2024.
*career pace includes game tonight and three goals
— Drew Cove 🎄 (@covedrew) December 14, 2022
