Update, October 20: Every goal of his final season, and the countdown to Gretzky’s 1,016, is now on our Ovechkin goal tracker, updated after each one.
Alex Ovechkin said on October 5 that this will be his last season. He is 41 and holds the regular-season goals record at 930, taken from Wayne Gretzky’s 894 in April 2025. Seven games into the farewell he has one goal, two assists and 10 shots, and he is playing 13:56 a night, three and a half minutes less than last season.
Gretzky’s other record
Gretzky scored 894 goals in the regular season and 122 in the playoffs, 1,016 in all. Ovechkin has 930 and 77, 1,007, so he is nine goals from tying the combined total and 10 from passing it. Playoff goals count toward it, but the regular season is the sure route: Washington has 77 games left.
At last season’s rate of 0.39 goals a game (32 in 82 games) he needs 26 games, which would put goal 1,017 in game 33, on December 19 against St. Louis. At the 0.52 a game he scored over the last two seasons (76 in 147), it takes about 19 games. Across all 77 remaining games, last season’s rate would take him to about 960 regular-season goals.
Three and a half fewer minutes
The ice time is the part that does not fit the pace. Ovechkin averaged 17:27 last season, the lowest of his career for a full year, and 17:43 the year before. This season he has played 12:46, 13:34, 14:05, 13:57, 16:56, 13:02 and 13:14. His average has fallen every year since 2021-22, from 20:34 to 20:12, 19:13, 17:43 and 17:27, and it peaked at 23:06 in 2007-08.
The shots have gone with the minutes. He has 10 in seven games, against 3.0 a game last season (244 in 82) and 3.6 the year before (237 in 65).
Seven games is a small sample, and ice time moves with the score and with penalties. But every projection above assumes last season’s role, and for those numbers to hold the minutes have to come back.
What else is within reach
- 1,700 career points. He has 1,690, so 10 more. At last season’s 0.78 points a game that is about 13 games.
- 1,600 games. He has played 1,580, so the 1,600th would be the 27th game of this season.
- The last five seasons: 50, 42, 31, 44 (in 65 games) and 32 goals.
Everything he does this season is on his player page, with the Capitals schedule and every skater on the skater stats leaderboard.
