Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin becomes first NHLer to score 900 career goals
Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin has made history by becoming the first player in NHL history to reach the 900-career regular season goal mark.
The moment happened Saturday night with his shot that beat St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington to make it 2-0.
The Great 8 owns the league’s all-time scoring record, which was further extended with No. 900. Back in 2024-25, Ovechkin scored career goal No. 895 against the New York Islanders, surpassing Wayne Gretzky’s previous high-water mark of 894.
No other NHL forward has more than 650 goals, with Sidney Crosby (633) being the only other active player to have at least 600. Steven Stamkos, Evgeni Malkin and John Tavares are the only others with 500, while Patrick Kane (494) isn’t far away.
Beyond Ovechkin and Gretzky, only Gordie Howe (801) has more than 800 career NHL goals.
The 40-year-old winger entered Saturday with two goals and seven points in 12 games. He last scored on Oct. 24th against Columbus, a night before playing in his 1,500th game. Should Ovechkin play all 82 games for the Capitals this season, he could rise to 14th all time in games played. That honor is currently held by Nick Lidstrom’s 1,564 outings.
Drafted first overall in 2004, Ovechkin has 900 goals and 1,631 points in 1,503 career regular season games. He also won the Stanley Cup in 2018, which was the highlight of his 161 career playoff outings.
Ovechkin is in the final year of a contract that pays $9.5 million. He hasn’t officially announced any plans for the future, but could elect to try and chase goal No. 1,000 – although Father Time could have something to say about that.
The Capitals entered the weekend in the midst of a four-game losing streak. The team sat sixth in the Metropolitan Division with 12 points, putting them six behind the division-leading Pittsburgh Penguins.
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