Alex Ovechkin Comments on Reaching 1,000 Goals

Through the first chunk of the 2025-26 season, the 40 year old has 14 goals and 29 points in 28 games, bringing him to 911 career regular season goals.

Goal number 900 arrived on November 5 against the St Louis Blues, complete with Jordan Binnington trying to smuggle the puck as a souvenir, and Ovechkin has stacked 11 more in 17 games since.

That heater works out to a 52 goal pace over a full schedule, a reminder that the 2004 first overall pick still scores like a prime superstar when the legs are there.

Because the math people never sleep, everyone quickly noticed that 911 leaves Ovechkin «only» 89 short of becoming the first 1,000 goal player in NHL history, a milestone Pavel Datsyuk publicly rooted for back in June.

Ovechkin's response, as usual, has been to shrug at the narrative, repeating to reporters that he wants to enjoy the season, focus on the next game, and let the future sort itself out.

The big variable is time: if he finishes around 38 goals this year, he would sit near 935, which still requires roughly two more 30 goal level seasons, and he is not signed with Washington beyond this one.

Even if 1,000 never happens, there are other ridiculous records in play, including most goals when you add playoffs and the chase for Gretzky's mark for multi goal games, which Ovechkin trailed by only ten last spring.

The physical side of his legacy is still building too, since earlier this year he sat third all time in hits and less than 300 checks behind Cal Clutterbuck for the top spot, a gap he keeps chipping away at while still scoring.

So the 1,000 goal talk is fun, but the real story right now is that Ovechkin is driving offense again, giving this era of Capitals hockey one more burst of juice and leaving fans to wonder how far this last chapter can really go.