800 and Counting: The Legendary Career of Alex Ovechkin

One of the major storylines in the NHL in the last few seasons has been Alex Ovechkin's road to goal-scoring immortality. Throughout his career, Ovechkin's received a pair of notable nicknames: "The Great Eight" and "Alexander the Great," both with plenty of merit. Ovechkin's stellar career began in the 2005 NHL Draft, yes, that draft. He was drafted by the Washington Capitals on the same year that some kid named Sidney Crosby was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins. That, alone, is epic.

I do remember the buzz about Ovechkin as well as Crosby. I also remember that I took a liking to Crosby and soaked in the hype that he would become the next great superstar. While that ended up being true, the same could be said for Ovechkin, and boy, did he get off to a hot start. 52 goals, 54 assists, 106 points--in his rookie season! The Calder Trophy was waiting for him, but it would not come with a playoff appearance, as the Caps finished in the bottom of the Southeast Division. The following season saw Ovechkin finish with 92 points (46 of each), meaning that in just two seasons, he was already closing in on 100 goals and 200 points, but even so, no playoffs still.

In Year Three, Ovechkin scored 65 goals! Let me repeat that: sixty-five goals! 163 goals in three seasons, what a number! It was during that season that Ovechkin got his first taste of the playoffs, as the Caps won their first of four straight division titles. Unfortunately, they lost in seven games to the Philadelphia Flyers. 2008-09 would see Ovechkin put up 56 goals, moving him past the 200-goal mark, while also racking up 100 points for the third time in four seasons. The Caps would actually defeat the New York Rangers in the opening round, but they would be elimimated in a seven-game Eastern Conference Semifinal series by the eventual Stanley Cup Champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins, led by that Crosby kid. 2009-10 was another 50-goal season, and the Caps actually won the Presidents' Trophy that season. Despite this, they were ousted in the first round yet again, this time by the Montreal Canadiens; the memorable series where the Caps were "goalie'd" by Jaroslav Halak.

So in five seasons, Ovechkin was racking up goals left and right, but the playoff success wasn't there. Meanwhile, his 2005 draft mate, Sidney Crosby, already reached the Final twice, and won once, and also went through Ovechkin as well. Ovechkin's sixth season (2010-11) saw him fail to reach 40 goals for the first time in his career, and he would also fail to get past the Elite Eight. This became a recurring thing year by year, with the exception of the 2013-14 season, as the Caps actually missed the playoffs that year (the last time they would do so). The goal totals went back up for Ovechkin, he would have three straight 50-goal seasons between 2013 and 2016, but he ran into the same dead ends: the second round.

Now, I have to confess something. By that time, my fanaticism of Ovechkin decreased. I actually didn't like him. The reason: Bruce Boudreau was fired as head coach of the Capitals during the 2011-12 season. I remember hearing rumblings that Ovechkin was responsible for the ousting. That put me out with him. I can't stand "coach killers." When Boudreau reached the Western Conference Finals as the coach of the Anaheim Ducks, I used that to laugh at Ovechkin, as--despite his immense talents--he still couldn't get past the Elite Eight, and their back-to-back Presidents' Trophy years would see them ousted by Crosby and the Penguins, who won the Cup both times. It was around this time that I uttered the following statement:

"The only things that are certain are death, taxes, and Alex Ovechkin never reaching the conference finals."

In a dozen seasons, Ovechkin had 558 career goals, but was a playoff failure.

Then the 2017-18 season happened.

In his 13th season, Ovechkin scored 49 goals to surpass the 600 mark in his career, but even so, he was still looking to get his first Stanley Cup, after seeing his counterpart, Sidney Crosby, win three of them. The Caps won the Metropolitan Division for the third straight year, but didn't get the Presidents' Trophy this time. They defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets in a six-game Metropolitan Semifinal series, but it would set up their third straight Metropolitan Final matchup with the Penguins. So yeah, it seemed like it would be another dead end, even with the Capitals up 3-2 entering Game Six, which went to overtime. Then a funny thing happened: Evgeny Kuznetsov scored. The Capitals won. The Capitals eliminated the Crosby Penguins. Alex Ovechkin was a Conference Finalist. He would become a Stanley Cup Finalist after the Caps defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games, and on June 7, 2018, when the Caps won Game Five over the Vegas Golden Knights, Ovechkin became a Stanley Cup Champion.

I was happy for Ovechkin when he won, true story. I was glad that the jokes about his playoff failures were over, and that the proverbial monkey was off his back. Crosby, I swear to this, told him in that single file line to go out there and win it, and he did. But could he win a second one? After enjoying the offseason as Stanley Cup Champion, Ovechkin got right back to work in a quest to repeat, putting up 51 points and leading the Caps to another division title. However, the Carolina Hurricanes upset the Caps in a seven-game opening round series, and that quest ended quite early. Ovechkin would add another milestone in the following season: he became the eighth player to reach 700 career goals. By that time, the Great Eight was being tracked, as he was moving up the goals list, leading to many fans, myself included, believing that he'll pass "The Great One."

Despite the lack of playoff success since winning the Stanley Cup in 2018, Ovechkin continued to climb the ladder with each goal he scored. He had already surpassed Mark Messier before reaching 700, and afterwards, he would surpass Phil Esposito and Marcel Dionne to enter the top five, and entering the current season, Ovechkin surpassed Brett Hull and Jaromir Jagr. Which brings us to the evening of December 13, 2022. Ovechkin entered that night against the Chicago Blackhawks just three goals short of 800, and he would get those goals, scoring #798 and #799 in the first period, and #800 came in the 3rd period.

Ovechkin became only the third player to reach 800 career goals, joining "The Great One" Wayne Gretzky and "Mr. Hockey" Gordie Howe on that short list. He only needs one goal to tie Gordie Howe, and two to move into second all-time, but as we know, the magic number is 894. Alex Ovechkin will reach that number, I actually said that two seasons ago. You know how many times Ovechkin's won the Rocket Richard Trophy? Look at the number on the back of his jersey for the answer. There's no doubt that he'll pass that record and will become the first to reach 900 career goals. And it shows what's great about hockey. The other three main sports seem to be too materialistic; judging too much based on championships. In hockey, it's all about what a player does on the ice. Ovechkin was a Hall of Famer before he won his Cup, that's been acknowledged. The Cup, however, does add more to his legend, and when (not if) he breaks that record, The Great Eight will definitely reach iconic status.