Alexander Ovechkin: Road to #1

With a notice from the Washington Capitals and general manager George McPhee, 18 year old Alexander Ovechkin was a first round pick on June 26, 2004. Ever since then, Ovechkin has accomplished many goals any hockey player would aspire to achieve and has made a lasting impression on hockey fans around the world.

Where did it all start? With Ovechkin’s mother being a former two-time Olympic gold medalist playing basketball and his father being a retired professional soccer player, he felt as though he had big shoes to fill. He began playing ice hockey at a young age and eventually worked his way up to playing for HC Dynamo Moscow, a professional Russian hockey team, at the young age of 16.

Ovechkin’s talent was evident, leading him to getting picked up in a first round draft by the Washington Capitals in 2004. He made his NHL, on-the-ice debut on October 5, 2005. This specific game was against the Columbus Blue Jackets and to everyone’s surprise, Ovechkin scored twice this game leading the Capitals to a 3-2 win. He made a great impression on hockey fans around the world during his first season. Ovechkin scored a total of 52 goals his first season, leading him to becoming the NHL’s rookie of the year, winning the Calder Trophy. Later on in his career in the 2009-10 season, Ovechkin was named captain of the Washington Capitals.

Ovechkin has had a number of milestones. Starting off with, of course, his surpassing 800 career goals putting him one goal behind Gordie Howe. But focusing on his earlier accomplishments, Ovechkin scored his 100th goal against the Rangers’ goalie, Henrik Lundqvist, early on in the 2007-08 season. Later on in that season, he finished with 65 goals and 47 assists and it was evident that he was of great value to the Washington Capitals. Moving ahead a couple-hundred goals, to no one’s surprise, Ovechkin made his way into the 500-goal club along with 42 other past and present NHL players. My family and I are one of the lucky Capitals fans to have gotten a piece of the goal to which he scored this huge milestone. During a home game against the Winnipeg Jets, Ovechkin secured his 600th goal and became one of 20 players to do so in their career. In 2018, the Capitals made their way into the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time after 20 years and Ovechkin recorded his first Stanley Cup goal against the Las Vegas Golden Knights in the 2nd period leading the team 2-1. The Capitals later went on to win their first ever Stanley Cup Final with Ovechkin leading the team. He has gained many more accomplishments and Capitals fans worldwide are patiently awaiting the passing of Wayne Gretzky himself.

Ovechkin has been on the rise in the world of hockey with now becoming the number 2 goal scorer in NHL history. It is all a matter of time before he becomes number 1. Gretzky stated in an interview with TNT’s telecast of the 2023 Discover Winter Classic, “I think we’re past the point of if he’s going to do it, we said a year ago that it’s a matter of when he’s going to do it. So, it’s great for the game. It’s a positive and I think that it couldn’t happen to a better person. He’s been great for our sport.” Myself along with hockey fans all over the world cannot wait to see what Ovechkin does with his incredible skill in the sport of hockey and praying for that number 1 spot to be his one day.