The Washington Capitals are two games into the 2026-27 NHL season, which will be a celebratory one for the franchise as the greatest player in team history will hang up his skates at the finish.
Alexander Ovechkin, the all-time leading scorer in the league’s history, announced on Monday that this will be his 22nd and final season in the National Hockey League.
Ovechkin breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time scoring mark in 2025 is, arguably, the greatest accomplishment of his career—but certainly not the only one. Here’s just a sample of what else Ovechkin has achieved in his Hall of Fame career, as well as what he could still attain in his final season.
Goals, Goals, and More Goals
It’s not just the all-time goals mark that Ovechkin holds; he tops just about every sub-goals list as well. That includes having the most power play goals (331), most game-winning goals (141), most empty net goals (72), and most overtime goals (27). Thus, it’s of little surprise that the Russian’s nine times leading the NHL in goals scored is the most in league history, two clear of Bobby Hull.
Ovi has found the net versus 189 different goaltenders, also most ever, and he holds several records for goal-scoring milestones. These include the most 30-goal seasons (20), most 40-goal seasons (14), and most 50-goal seasons (nine), with the last of those being a mark he shares with Gretzky and Mike Bossy.
Quite the Trophy Case
Ovechkin’s nine times leading the NHL in goals means he’s won the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy nine times. That trophy has just been around since 1998-99, so the likes of Gretzky and Hull didn’t win any, but Ovechkin is head and shoulders above his contemporaries since the inaugural award. His nine Trophies are three times more than anyone else (Auston Matthews has 3), as he’s one of just six players to win the award multiple times.
A 13-time All-Star, Ovechkin also has three Hart Memorial Trophies (NHL MVP) to his name. Additionally, he is a three-time Ted Lindsay Award winner, which is essentially another MVP award as it goes to the NHL’s most outstanding player, except it’s voted on by the NHLPA, as opposed to the Hart by the media.
Finally, Ovechkin did more than just score lots of goals as he also dished out an assist or two, which allowed him to claim the 2008 Art Ross Trophy for topping the league in points.
With all of those achievements, Ovechkin was the first player to win the Richard, Hart, Lindsay, and Ross trophies all within a single season (2007-08). That’s an honor he held on his own for 15 years until Connor McDavid became the second in 2022-23.
Championship Pedigree
The Washington Capitals are in the 52nd NHL season since the inaugural one in 1974-75. The franchise had never won a single Stanley Cup Final game, let alone a series, until Ovechkin arrived. In 2018, he led the team to its first and only Stanley Cup championship, claiming the Conn Smythe Trophy as the postseason MVP in the process.
His title count goes beyond what he did in the NHL, as prior to joining the National Hockey League in 2005, Ovechkin won a Russian Superleague championship in his native country. Also, when the NHL had a lockout during the 2012-13 season, Ovechkin went back home and notched a Gagarin Cup championship in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
From an international standpoint, Ovechkin competed in three Olympics and 13 World Championships. While Russia always came up short in the former, Ovechkin is a nine-time medalist in the latter. He’s been a part of three gold medal-winning Russian squads at the World Championships, to go along with two silver medals and four bronzes.
What’s Still to Come?
Ovechkin has 82 more regular season games, plus the postseason, to pad his records, and possibly, claim new ones. He’s just 11 goals away from passing Gretzky, again, for the most career goals in the regular season plus postseason, as Ovechkin has 1,006 with Gretzky at 1,016. Also, Ovi needs five more multi-goal games to pass Gretzky’s record of 189 over a career and 25 more even-strength goals for the Great 8 to surpass The Great One’s mark of 617.
With only four more assists, Ovechkin will become the Capitals’ all-time leader in that regard and leapfrog Nicklas Backstrom, who has 762. While Ovi won’t top the NHL’s all-time playoff goals list in his final season, netting just three more postseason goals would bump him from 12th to the top 10 all time.
Finally, Ovechkin recorded 64 points last season, and if he can slightly increase that pace and record 69 points this year, he’d rise up the list for most career points with one franchise. Ovi currently has 1,688 with the Caps, which is fifth most, but posting 69 points would have him leapfrog both Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman for third most. The only player ahead of him would be Gordie Howe (1,809) and Ovechkin’s longtime adversary in Sidney Crosby (1,763 and counting).
