duck123

Funny. I was saying over 4 years ago, when I wrote this thread, that I think Ovechkin would break Gretzky's all-time goal scoring record. Check out this article: https://www.nhl.com/news/alex-ovechkin-has-chance-to-catch-wayne-gretzky/c-303113638

I'm just claiming I think there is a good chance Ovi will beat Gretzky's all-time regular season goal scoring record--separate from playoffs.

Ha, awesome way to finish the season. On to the quest for the Cup! GO DUCKS!

When I created this thread 4 years ago, Alex Ovechkin had 414 goals, and was 481 goals away from breaking Gretzky's goal-scoring record. Four seasons later, he now has 607 goals! So, in the 4 seasons since this thread was made, Ovechkin has scored 185 goals--unreal! Just finished another season with around 50 goals. (49, to be exact.) And he is now only 288 goals from breaking Wayne Gretzky's record. No, really! He is only 288 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time goal scoring record! Guys, I truly believe he is going to break this record! Is there anybody here who truly believes he cannot play until he is 40 years old? Of course not. Check this out. This is pretty amazing. He will be 33 years old when the next season starts. So, let's just say he retires after 8 more seasons, when he is 40 years old. Is there anybody here who does not believe Ovechkin can score at least 36 goals for the next 8 seasons? I doubt it. Well, what is 36 multiplied by 8? 288! Crazy, huh! If Ovechkin only scores 36 goals for the next 8 seasons, he breaks Gretzky's record! And if, for whatever reason, he needs a few more seasons past the age of 40 to break the record, there is no reason to believe he cannot still be a productive player in this league past the age of 40. Also, to put it into perspective, Teemu Selanne came back to the Ducks at age 35 and ended up scoring a total of 232 goals in 9 seasons, including 40 goals at age 35 and 48 goals at age 36! I think this is going to happen! Let's keep in mind that Ovechkin has averaged 50 goals in 3 of the last 4 seasons. He is not showing any signs of slowing down. I would not be surprised if he has at least 2 more seasons in him, if not more, where he scores at least 50 goals. I also believe he will be the first player in NHL history to reach 900 goals in his career! It's always fun to see how much closer he is to breaking Gretzky's record after the regular season has ended. When I first made this thread 4 years ago, who could have imagined that he would average 50 goals in 3 of the next 4 seasons. Pretty cool! I am really hoping he stays healthy these next 8 seasons. If so, will be very cool to see somebody break a goal scoring record. Maybe I'll even try and be there in person when he does it. Ok, well, will be interesting to see how much closer Ovechkin is to breaking the goal scoring record a year from today. Until then...GO DUCKS!

Lol. Good point.

Yeah, hopefully he does not get injured. That's 9 goals now. Scored another 1 last night. If he has an awesome season this year, he could very well be on his way to breaking the record--especially if he follows it up with another awesome season next year. We shall see.

Wow, he has 8 goals in only the first 4 games of the season! Yeah, I'd say he has a real good chance at breaking Gretzky's goal-scoring record. Does not seem like he's slowing down at all. In fact, maybe what happened with him is what happens with a lot of athletes as they age. They end up eating much healthier and stretching/exercising much more the older they get, to stay at a high-level. So, maybe he'll play even better this year than ever before. Should be fun to see what happens. https://www.nhl.com/news/alex-ovechkin-behind-the-numbers-nhl-record/c-291850200?tid=278387726

What's amazing is that Jaromir Jagr has 765 goals, which is only 129 goals less than Gretzky had. If he had not taken away so many years from the NHL to play overseas, he might be able to catch Gretzky's record if he were to play this season.

Ha. True. It's all about the team around him too. For instance, Wayne Gretzky was obviously an awesome player. But, as awesome as he was, he never won a championship with The Kings. The Kings were very comparable to the Washington Capitals Ovechkin plays on. Very talented. Very offensive. Never won Cup with Gretzky. When he was with the Oilers, he won 4. Why? Because, the Oilers just had the type of team built to win the Cup at that time, with players like Messier. If Ovechkin was on the Penguins team the last 2 years, or on the Chicago teams when they won their most recent 3, he would have won. Has a lot more to do than just one player. Has to do with the system the team plays. Who is running the team, etc. Maybe we see Ovechkin get traded one day to a team like Detroit and see him win the Cup there. We shall see.

Along with seeing the Ducks hopefully win the Cup this next season, looking forward to see how many goals Ovechkin scores this upcoming season. Might go a long way in seeing how likely it will be that he can break Gretzky's all-time goal scoring record or not. Only 337 goals away!

With 33 goals this season right now, Ovechkin is currently 337 goals away from breaking Gretzky's ultimate goal-scoring record. Pretty remarkable, huh Can he do it? Sure, why not? Let's put it this way, Selanne had 232 goals with the Duck's after rejoining them at age 35. And those 232 goals included 9 goals his last season with the Duck's-and 12 goals the season before that. Ovechkin is 31 years old. If Selanne can score 232 goals from age 35 until retirement, then why can't Ovechkin score 337 goals from age 32 until retirement? (Will be 32 at start of next season.) Ovechkin is likely to score "at least" 2 more goals before the regular season is done this year. That means he would obviously be only 335 goals away from breaking the ultimate goal-scoring records. And you know what is interesting? He would only need to average 35 goals for the next 9.5 seasons and he would break the record. If anybody can score 35 goals at age 41 years old, it is Ovechkin. Has he said in the past he does not want to play in his 40's? I think somebody else mentioned that once. But people change. I think Selanne said the same thing early in his career. Then he ended up playing until age 44. Trust me. If Ovechkin is age 38 and has a realistic chance of breaking the ultimate record, I think his competitive nature will take over and he will stay in the league as long as it takes to break the record. In fact, if he can stay healthy and break the record at 41 years old, I would not be surprised at all for him to be so happy he broke the record that he is inspired to keep only playing after that, into his mid-40's, like Jaromír Jágr. Jagr has 15 goals this season and 27 assists. And I think he wants to keep playing, right? Oh, and Jagr is 45 years old, 14 years older than Ovechkin right now. I am making the bold prediction that Ovechkin will be the first player ever to score 900 or more goals in his career. And you never know. If he keeps playing as long as Jagr, he might be the first to 1,000! When I first made this post in 2014, breaking Gretzky's goal-scoring record might have sounded crazy to some. Now, not so crazy, huh? Will he break the record? As always, we shall see!

Ovechkin is now ONLY 370 goals away from breaking Gretzky's ultimate goal-scoring record. And he is only 30 years old! Let's remember how many goals Selanne was able to score at 35 years old, and over. Selanne had 40 goals at 35, followed by 48 goals at 36. Ovechkin just had two seasons with 50+ goals. Does anybody doubt he has a few more seasons in him where he'll score at least 50 goals? Nope. And if you asked the regular NHL fan if they think he will score at least 370 more goals before he retires...not mentioning Gretzky's record...I think most fans would respond with: "Of course! We're talking about Ovechkin!" I do think he has AT LEAST a few more seasons where he will score at least 50 goals, and then a few more seasons after that where he will score at least 40 goals, followed up possibly with some 30+ goals seasons from there on out to finish his career. But let's just take the worst case scenario. Let's say Ovechkin suddenly see's a sudden decline in scoring and scores only 30 goals each season, for the next 10 years. Folks, even at that low rate of scoring (Low, for Oveckin's standards), Ovechkin will have still scored 300 goals in that 10 year span. That means at 40 years old, he'll only be 70 goals away from breaking Gretzky's goal-scoring record. Does anybody doubt he'd stick around in the NHL, for as long as it takes, to score 70 goals? I don't think he'll have to. I personally think he'll break the record before he turns 41. And I personally think he'll be the first player in NHL history to get to 900 goals. We'll see if I'm right.

Yes, but if he plays until the age of Jagr, he just needs to average around 29 goals for the next 14 seasons to get 400 more goals...and to break the record. I think most will agree he can play at least until the age of Jagr. And most will probably also agree that Ovechkin can probably be capable of scoring 29 goals well into his 40's. This is not even factoring in the fact that he probably will score a lot more goals this season, probably will score at least 50 goals for a few more seasons, and probably will have some more 40 + goals seasons. As long as he stays healthy and wants to play as long as Jagr is playing, I think he will definitely break the record. But we shall see.

You know, since I wrote this about 2 years ago, Ovechkin has scored about 100 goals. Amazing. He now has 510 goals. He currently leads the NHL with 35 goals. He has scored at least 51 goals the last 2 seasons . He's on pace to have another 50 goal season. And he's never scored less than 32 goals in his NHL career. I remember the analysts seeming to think he was done a few years ago. Now, about to have his third 50+ goal season in the last 3 years, I think everybody has to conclude he is still the greatest goal scorer in our game today. The question I want to ask people again now is if they think Ovechkin can break Gretzky's record. Look, he's only 30. He's not slowing down any time soon. Let's remember that Selanne scored 40 goals at 35 years old, and 48 goals at 36 years old. Let's just put it this way. Ovechkin is 400 goals away from being at 910 goals. That would be 15 more goals than Gretzky. By the way, anybody think Gretzky should have played one more season to be the first to 900 goals? At 30 years old, Ovechkin can definitely break the record, in my opinion. And I think he will. Let's remember Jagr is still playing at a high level at 44 years old. Jagr already has 17 goals and 23 assists this season. If Ovechkin can stay healthy, and wants to break the record, I think he can play at a high level for at least as long as Jagr is playing. And I think he can break the record. We'll see if I'm right. By the way, let's go Ducks!

Well, at 43 goals this season, he just has 11 more seasons to go, at 40 goals a season, to break Gretsky's record. Should be a fun 11 more years. Would be crazy if it happens. And if he gets to 50 goals this season, which is very likely, then he just needs to get 30 goals his 11th season. Hey, Selenne got to 40 goals after his 35th birthday. I don't see any reason why Ovechkin won't, as long as he stays healthy. I truly believe that, if he stays healthy, he will likely break Gretsky's goal scoring record. Amazing!