Alex Ovechkin’s next record could arrive much sooner than anyone realizes

Here is the strange part about Alex Ovechkin breaking Wayne Gretzky’s goals record: He is already close to doing it again.

This one comes with a qualifier, so it has received far less attention. Ovechkin has scored 929 goals during the regular season and 77 more in the playoffs. His actual NHL total is 1,006.

Gretzky scored 894 in the regular season and 122 in the playoffs, giving him 1,016 altogether.

Ten goals would pull Ovechkin even. Eleven would move him ahead.

That is about a month or two of work for Ovechkin, even at this stage of his career.

Eleven goals should not take long

Ovechkin played every game last season. At 40 years old, he scored 32 goals and added 32 assists. Somehow, a 64-point season from a player his age almost felt ordinary because it was Ovechkin doing it.

It was not ordinary.

Only Gordie Howe and Johnny Bucyk have scored more goals in a season after turning 40. Ovechkin also recorded two hat tricks and reached 30 goals for the 20th time in his career.

He needed 30 games to score his first 11 goals last season. Follow the same pace this year and the combined record would fall sometime in late November.

It could happen earlier. Ovechkin has never been especially polite about waiting for milestones. Give him a couple of productive power plays and the countdown could disappear quickly.

Washington still has plenty of reasons to feed him the puck. The Capitals went 18-4-2 when Ovechkin scored last season, so helping him chase records was hardly getting in the way of winning.

Then the real temptation begins

Once Ovechkin passes Gretzky in combined goals, the conversation will move to 1,000 regular-season goals. It is unavoidable.

He needs 71.

That number is far enough away that Ovechkin cannot reach it this season. It is also close enough to become interesting if he puts together another 30-goal year.

Thirty goals would leave him at 959. From there, Ovechkin would need 41 more. Perhaps that takes two additional seasons. Perhaps his production falls off and it never happens. Predicting a normal decline with Ovechkin has made plenty of people look silly already.

His new contract only covers the 2026–27 season. He has made no promise about playing beyond it, and at 41, he is allowed to decide he has had enough without checking where the next round number sits.

Still, imagine him finishing the season somewhere near 960. Would he really leave 1,000 sitting there?

That question can wait. The next record cannot. Ovechkin is only 11 goals away, and there is a decent chance it belongs to him before the season has even settled in.