Alexander Ovechkin logged an assist in the game against the Islanders (a 4-1 victory), reaching his 1670th point in NHL regular season play. The Russian forward, who has spent his entire North American career with the Capitals, now occupies the fifth spot all-time for points accumulated while playing for a single franchise. Ovechkin surpassed Wayne Gretzky, though it must be noted that Gretzky’s entire playing tenure wasn’t confined to the Oilers organization. The captain of the “Caps” trails Gordie Howe’s benchmark by 139 points, yet his primary pursuer remains Sidney Crosby, who has already commenced his charge toward the position held by another Detroit legend, Steve Yzerman.
In a separate contest among franchise icons, Ovechkin is currently ranked fifth based on games played. “Alexander the Great” has participated in 1548 contests for Washington—slightly fewer than the distinguished Red Wings stalwarts Alex Delvecchio and Niklas Lidstrom. To overtake Patrick Marleau, the NHL’s all-time top goal-scorer will likely need to continue playing for another season, and surpassing Howe would take two more, provided he stays healthy and avoids any missed games.
The most significant shifts in the NHL scoring charts are occurring in the tail end of the top one hundred, where Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, and Nikita Kucherov are rapidly eclipsing past legends. In contrast, the ascent of Crosby, Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Patrick Kane is proceeding at a much more measured pace. Sidney is within a dozen points of the seventh position, Alexander is 53 points shy of ninth, while Evgeni needs just two points to enter the top 25.
Following the match versus the “Islanders,” Ovechkin moved past Larry Robinson and secured a spot among the 50 greatest setup artists in NHL history. Incidentally, he needs just 11 more helpers to reach 47th place (and the top spot for the Capitals franchise), which is currently held by his long-time line-mate, Nicklas Backstrom. Among active players, only six are ranked higher: Crosby, Kane, Malkin, Anze Kopitar, Connor McDavid, and Claude Giroux.
Ovi also made a small gain in the historical leaderboard for scorers aged 40. Alexander registered his 47th point at that age, surpassing Dave Keon of the Hartford Whalers. The Russian is likely to catch Lidstrom, who rounds out the top five, but reaching Howe’s remarkable century mark achieved at forty years old is, of course, not a realistic expectation.
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