Ovechkin is 10th in NHL history with 1,684 points in 1,569 regular-season games, including a team-leading 61 points season.
He has 77 playoff goals and became the second in NHL history to reach 1,000 total goals, joining Gretzky (1,016) when he scored against the Colorado Avalanche on March 22.
The Moscow, Russia native was the fourth player in NHL history to score 30 goals at age 40 or older, joining Gordie Howe (44 in 1968-69, 31 in 1969-70), Johnny Bucyk (36 in 1975-76), and Teemu Selanne (31 in 2010-11). He has at least 30 goals an NHL-record 20 times. The only time Ovechkin didn’t reach 30 was when he scored 24 in 45 games during the 2020-21 season that was abbreviated to 56 games because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ovechkin also holds the NHL record for 40-goal seasons with 14 and is tied with Gretzky and Mike Bossy for the most 50-goal seasons (nine). He is second in 20-goal seasons with 21, behind Howe, who had 22.
Selected by Washington with the No. 1 pick in the 2004 NHL Draft, Ovechkin has won the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy for leading the NHL in goals a League-record nine times. He scored 52 goals in 81 games as a 20-year-old in 2005-06 to win the Calder Trophy as the NHL rookie of the year.
Ovechkin won the Art Ross Trophy for leading the NHL in points in 2007-08 when he had 112 (65 goals, 47 assists) in 82 games to help Washington reach the playoffs for the first time in his career. He won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player in 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2012-13 and the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP in the playoffs in 2018 after leading Washington to its first Stanley Cup championship.
In addition to being the NHL’s all-time leader in goals, Ovechkin also holds League records for power-play goals (331), game-winning goals (141), overtime goals (27) and empty-net goals (71).
“A lot of love for ‘O’ and his family,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “We’ve just grown together over the last few years, and my appreciation for him and our relationship, and him being our captain and the amount of time that I’ve spent with him and gotten to know him, (I) just care deeply for him as a person.”
NHL.com independent correspondent Dave McCarthy contributed to this report
