On the day before Alex Ovechkin continued his chase of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL goal record, he wandered into the Hall of Fame room at Rogers Place to see part of the shrine to 99, grabbing his gloves, a Titan stick—the heavy one you could do chin-ups on—and Gretzky’s old Oilers jersey for a photo op for the Washington Capitals website.
Ovechkin, who is 20 goals back of Gretzky’s 894 goals, is one of the game’s great collectors of memorabilia and in this case, he seemed in heaven, an image of the Great One in the glass case behind him. In every town, they’re asking questions about the two, but coming to Edmonton clearly meant more to him because of Gretzky’s history here.
“It’s pretty sick,” said Ovechkin when asked about seeing the Gretzky shrine a few hours before the Caps played the current Oilers.
“When you have a chance to feel how different equipment was back then. I had, not the same gloves, but the same kind of materials. It’s pretty crazy how they (equipment) have changed over the years.”
Ovechkin wouldn’t call Gretzky his best bud, but they are certainly friendly.
“I have one of Gretzky’s sticks from after we won the Cup (2018),” said Ovechkin, who has 21 goals in 30 games this season, missing a month with a broken leg. “I have Gretzky’s, (Mario) Lemieux. Lots of sticks. It’s pretty cool.”
The two players do correspond with Gretzky currently working as a studio commentator on the TNT NHL TV package.
“I wished him happy birthday (Jan. 26). I don’t text him every day. Obviously, he wouldn’t respond but I’m very proud I have a relationship with him,” said Ovechkin, who wasn’t born when Gretzky was weaving his magic here but he’s always been a hockey history buff.
For comparison sake, Gretzky’s 894 goals came on 5,088 shots in 1,487 games, eighth most in league history, for a 17.6 shooting percentage. Yeah, we know the stale trope that the goalies weren’t as good back in the 80s and 90s but they weren’t all table hockey stick-man goalies. A good number of them are in the Hall of Fame, like Mike Vernon, Billy Smith, and Tom Barrasso.
Ovechkin’s 874 goals have come on 6,734 shots in his 1,456 games (13 percent shooting percentage). Clearly, he’s more of a volume shooter (12,753 shot attempts in his 20 NHL seasons) than Gretzky, who was looking for Jari Kurri as his linemate or Paul Coffey, coming late on the attack.
There was a time when Ovechkin’s shot volume was beyond ridiculous. In his first four seasons, he had 425, 392, 446, and 528 shots on goal. He’s had 15 seasons with at least 300 shots on net. In his 30 games this season, he has 107, so still 3.55 a game.
“It’s hard to score in this league. You play against the best defensive players out there and maybe in one game, you maybe have two or three chances and you have to use it, or maybe one chance. All five guys out there have to do the job,” said Ovechkin, who looks back at his time as a rookie and how things have changed now that he’s closing in on 40 with grey hairs.
“Twenty years ago, it was one system, there were lots of fights, lots of hits. Cross-checking was OK and now if you cross-check a guy it’s two minutes, obviously. Same with the goalies, the pads are big, they’re big, they’re strong, they have different equipment as well,” said Ovechkin.
This is a Caps team that is rolling with the best points percentage in the league—a surprising turn of events.
This isn’t the story of a 39-year-old maybe playing on fumes where the only story night after night is the chase to Gretzky, not on how the team has stayed relevant thanks to some very astute free-agent signings and some trades.
“You can see how many guys signed before the season, experienced guys but still young, and still hungry to win the games and go to the playoffs,” he said.
But the chase to Gretzky is still the main storyline.
‘Records are made to be broken’: Paul Coffey
Gretzky, 894, Ovechkin 874 as we said. Neither’s fed off empty-netters, either. Gretzky only had 56 empty-netters, Ovechkin has 61.
“This (chase) is fantastic,” said Gretzky’s old Edmonton teammate Paul Coffey, currently in charge of coaching the Oilers defencemen.
“Records are made to be broken…I mean Wayne can’t have them all, although when I thought of this (894) over the years, I thought ‘not a chance.’ But good for Ovie, he’s been great for the game, great for Washington. He willed his team to a Stanley Cup. Nothing but respect for him.”
“I mean, it’s fantastic (goal countdown for the NHL). Ovie’s got something to chase,” said Coffey. “Wayne only chased himself, once he passed Gordie (Howe, 802 goals), he just chased himself and that’s what made Wayne so special.”
“Ovie’s a goal-scorer. He’s a sniper. To get that many goals with that shot, when teams know it’s coming…he’s like Hullie (Brett Hull), Mike Bossy. They were goal-scorers. Connor McDavid? He’s more of a playmaker.”
Hull was also a one-shot scorer who famously said he never looked at the net. “It hasn’t moved in 100 years,” said Hull, who had 86 goals one season and finished with a whopping 741 goals, fifth most in NHL history. But, still 53 back of Gretzky.
Gretzky also has 1,963 career assists, more than anybody else. But this is a guy who also scored 92 goals in 1981-82 breaking Phil Esposito’s record 76 in a single season on Feb. 24, 1982, with Espo tagging along to congratulate him when it happened in Buffalo against goalie Don Edwards—one of the best at that time. Lest you think, Gretzky had a bundle of empty-netters that season to hit 92; he only had five with the goalie pulled.
“When you think of Wayne Gretzky, what do you think of first?” asked Coffey.
“You think the greatest player in the game and a playmaker but he still shot (the puck). You’ve seen those slapshots coming across the ice. What I keep coming back to, though, is Wayne was always competing against himself. Once he got past Espo. Once he got past Gordie.”
Gretzky’s 802nd goal, one more than Howe, came against Vancouver Canucks, on March 23, 1994, when Gretzky was playing for Los Angeles.
Gretzky was almost embarrassed as Esposito, then working as a TV colour commentator for the New York Rangers, followed him from city to city before 99 scored three in Buffalo. Finally, Espo could shake Gretzky’s hand, recalling his dad’s bold statement to his son seven years earlier.
“Phil there’s a boy, who will break all of your records one day,” said the elder Esposito. “He’s 14 years old and he’s playing in the Soo. His name is Gretzky. Wayne Gretzky.”
Like a dutiful son, Phil listened to his dad rambling before mildly shutting him down.
“I remember saying ‘Well, that’s great, Dad, but, you know, he’s only 14. Let’s wait and see.’”
Seven years later Gretzky beat Espo, at 21 years of age. The 77th, 78th, and 79th goals in Buffalo came in Gretzky’s 64th game that Oilers season.
“I was tired of following him around,” joked Esposito after Gretzky scored three in six minutes in the third period in a 6-3 Oilers victory.
“Gretz will start following Ovie. When? I’m guessing Gretz will start doing it when it’s 3 (goals away), 2 and then 1. He’s (Ovechkin) not getting five in one game,” said Coffey, flashing back to the Dec. 30, 1981 night that No. 99 got five against the Philadelphia Flyers to reach 50 in an unthinkable 39 games.
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