Has been tied tonight. Alex Ovechkin has tied Wayne Gretzky at 894 goals.
I really thought this record would not be broken in my lifetime, but it certainly has been.
I am sure that Wayne's assist record will not be broken in my lifetime. He has more assists than the next best scorer has total points (1963 assists to Jagr's 1921 points)
This is hardly a fluke, too- Gretzky played in the scoring era, where there were a LOT of scorers whereas Ovie has mostly played in a defensive era. And before anyone says anything about ENGs, Ovie only has 9 more empty net goals than Gretzky did. It won't take much time (probably next season) before he gets 9 more than Wayne did overall.
Pretty incredible.
Where Ovie falls short, in reality, is that he has just one Stanley Cup. His main "rival", Sidney Crosby, has 3. Wayne has 4.
edit- NHL network just posted something interesting- Ovie did this one ONE game fewer than Wayne did. One game, out of over 1700 games played. Crazy how parallel this ends up being.
Congrats to him. I'll still take Sid.
ovie is a great goal scorer, but doesn't make my top 10 hockey players in history.
johndej
UltraDork
4/4/25 10:11 p.m.
Got a couple friends in DC who were at the game tonight that are going nuts. Hats off to Alex.
In reply to SKJSS (formerly Klayfish) :
39
The classiest part is Gretzky was there Tonight to support him, and will be there for the next few games as well.
I'm pretty sure the total points record is going to be safe for a very long time, but I used to believe nobody would ever threaten Lewis Hamiltons many, many records. I am not nearly as confident in that now.
Heck of a career. 39 is pretty old for a front line NHLer.
One hockey record that will never, ever be broken is Glenn Hall's. 552 consecutive games in goal. CONSECUTIVE. Night after night after night.
Ovechkin is a beast. To play the way he does and still playing at his age, amazing
I liked that Ovi refused to go on the ice after the Hawks' goalie was pulled. He wants to break the record with a goalie in the net. Stay tuned for Sunday's game.
Peabody said:
Ovechkin is a beast. To play the way he does and still playing at his age, amazing
4th all time in hits. He's an incredibly physical hockey player.
Comparing Stanley Cups won is not an even comparison when you consider the talent Wayne and Sid had around them for the better parts of their careers. It is a team sport you know.
alfadriver said:
NHL network just posted something interesting- Ovie did this one ONE game fewer than Wayne did. One game, out of over 1700 games played. Crazy how parallel this ends up being.
This is probably the most amazing part of the whole deal.
vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) said:
Classic Ovie goal too.
Over 1/3 of his goals came from that area. Crazy.
To be in the same breath as The Great One says everything. Congrats to Ovechkin!
And apparently great hockey scorers marry beautiful ladies! Just a side note........
Hey, Gretzky's only one goal from tying Ovechkin. Think he can catch him? LOL
vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) said:
Hey, Gretzky's only one goal from tying Ovechkin. Think he can catch him? LOL
Gordie would have come out of retirement to do it! 
I did appreciate Wayne wearing a #9 pin on the night when Ovi broke his record. Gordie was there when Wayne broke his. The chain continues.
alfadriver said:
This is hardly a fluke, too- Gretzky played in the scoring era, where there were a LOT of scorers whereas Ovie has mostly played in a defensive era.
Gretzky helped change the way the game was played. The Gretzky rule is named after him, but that's hardly the only tactic that came out of Gretzky's era. The game has changed since then, and people are going to that up. It still doesn't diminish Ovechkin's accomplishment. Like it was pointed out in a previous post, Ovie had less talent around him in a more defensive era. Ovechkin also has a *hell* of a lot more hits than Gretzky ever had, LOL.
