The NHL regular season is reaching its finish line - the teams have about ten more games left. And although most teams still have a chance to make it to the playoffs, some of them will have to watch the Stanley Cup from the sidelines. And there is a high probability that among them will be led by Alexander Ovechkin "Washington".
The Capitals have nine games to spare and are four points behind eighth-place Pittsburgh. Given their current form, there is no certainty that they will be able to break into the top of the East for the ninth time in a row. Over the past three weeks, the Capitals have only won four games out of ten, and in February they even produced a discouraging series of six straight losses for the first time since 2003. Taking into account the departure of several strong hockey players and the lack of both a worthy replacement and chemistry with newcomers, it is difficult to believe in the success of Peter Laviolette's charges.
Nevertheless, the leader of the Capitals is not going to retreat and still retains hopes of getting into the top 16 at the end of the regular season. In recent weeks, he has repeatedly spoken out about the problems of the team, complaining about the loss of key performers, but assured that Washington will fight for the playoffs. And there can be no complaints about the captain himself. In March, he went on the ice ten times and during this time scored 14 (8 + 6) points, thanks to which he crossed the mark of four dozen goals for the season. At the moment, Ovechkin shares seventh place in the sniper race with Jason Robertson (both - 41).
Thus, the Russian became the first hockey player in history who managed to score at least 40 goals in 13 NHL seasons. And if the forward manages to improve a little and shockingly spend the rest of the championship, then for the tenth time he will conquer the bar of 50 goals, which no one has previously managed. Now he shares the first line with the legendary Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky (all nine times).
And it is possible that his partners will try to help Ovechkin in this. Already, the Capitals are in a difficult position, and two or three more defeats will finally deprive them of tournament prospects. Especially if competitors continue to perform consistently. Yes, Florida has stalled a bit, and Pittsburgh and the Islanders have stumbled in recent games, but they still seem more balanced and ready for the final battle for a playoff spot.
And then the representatives of "Washington" may have no other goals, except to replenish their own track records and simultaneously help Ovechkin in conquering gretzky's record. After all, the success of this case largely depends on how productive it will be at the end of the current regular season.
We have to admit that even such a great athlete as Alexander is not getting younger and over the years he has been suffering more and more from injuries. And the point here is not in the Russian himself, just age takes its toll. Just look at LeBron James, who is considered by many to be one of the hardest working and professionally minded athletes of our time. If until 2018 he only twice missed more than ten of the 82 meetings of the season, then over the past five years he has never overcome the mark of 67 matches. Although the basketball player still continues to invest huge amounts of money in his body and trains more intensively than many.
The same can be said for Ovechkin. Up until 2020, he only fell below the bar of 72 games for the tournament twice, but there were good reasons for this. Due to the lockout, the 2012/13 season included only 48 meetings (in each of them the Russian was in the ranks), and three years ago the championship was reduced due to the coronavirus pandemic (like the 2020/21 season).
But recently, the Russian began to be increasingly concerned about injuries. In three regular seasons, he missed a total of 21 games - the same as in the first seven years in his overseas career. And although sometimes the reason was not in health (as in the case of the death of the father), the trend is obvious.
At the time of the start of the next championship, Ovechkin will be 38 years old - a serious age even for hockey. And although everyone knows the examples of Jaromir Jagr, Chris Chelios and Gordie Howe, who successfully performed not only in the fifth, but also at the beginning of the sixth decade, you should not lay on this. Although now there are a couple of good examples to follow. For example, Joe Pavelski, who in the 39th year of life remains one of the leaders of "Dallas" and steadily scores points (21 + 46). But it's one thing to benefit the team, and quite another to chase Gretzky's "eternal" achievement.
And it already feels like the Capitals are trying to help Ovechkin in his crusade rather than fight for a playoff spot. This was especially noticeable in the confrontation with Minnesota, where Washington hockey players regularly looked for a striker on the ice. And this is reflected in the statistics. If he averaged 4.2 shots per game in the tournament, this time there were as many as eight. Two of them allowed him to replenish the scoring of his goals in the majority, and another helped Dylan Strome to score. Marc-Andre Fleury coped with the Russian's snap, but the Canadian was the first to arrive.
The only question is whether it was an isolated incident or a trend. After all, in the confrontations with Columbus and Chicago, Ovie returned to his usual indicators (three or four shots on target). But if his teammates continue to feed him like this, he is quite capable of scoring 50 goals per season. Yes, the gap to Connor McDavid is too great, so it will not be possible to compete for the anniversary, tenth Maurice Richard Trophy. But to close the gap to Gretzky to 64 accurate hits is more than great.
Shorter seasons aside, Ovechkin has only once dropped below the 48-goal mark in the last ten years. In the 2016/17 season, he hit the opponents' goal 33 times and did not even get into the top ten scorers in the league. But this exception only emphasizes the rule. Over the years, Alexander has not scored less and is quite capable of scoring 40 or more times in the next two championships.
Thus, according to the boldest estimates, Gretzky's record can be conquered already during the 2024/25 tournament - a year before the end of Ovechkin's current contract with Washington. After that, he may well return to his homeland and spend a couple of years with his native Dynamo, which many fans of the white and blue hope for.