Alexander Ovechkin’s first game this year will mean he’s played in 20 of the Capitals’ 50 seasons, and he could make this one the most impactful: he’s just 42 goals way from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record and having the most goals scored in NHL history.
Olaf Kolzig was in net when Ovi was just beginning that journey as a rookie in 2005-06, and now, almost two decades later, he still can’t believe the Great Eight is on pace to pass the Great One.
“Three years ago, I knew Ovi was one of the best goal scorers ever, but I had no idea how close he was to Gretzky's record, because I didn't even really put him in the same category. I think the stuff that Gretzky achieved it just you never thought was ever gonna be broken,” Kolzig told Grant & Danny Thursday. “He has more assists than the next guy had total points! They’re off the chart stats, and so when it came to light that Ovi was 180 goals away, you're like, okay, that's still 180 goals, but to think now he’s 42 and he could possibly do it this year? Unless people play the game, you just have no idea how special that is, especially with the way the goaltenders play now and how tight teams play defensively. It’s incredible; he is legitimately the all-time best goal scorer, whether he breaks the record or not, in my opinion, with all the variables and the goaltenders now.”
For those who watched Gretzky play, you knew you were seeing greatness, and that’s what it feels like with Ovechkin, too – but this time, the chase might be a little different.
See, Gretzky was on his second team when he passed Gordie Howe, and he did it at the end of a season where the Kings were one of the worst teams in the league just one year after reaching the Stanley Cup Finals, and the league was on the precipice of a lockout.
It’s going to be close to spring for Ovi most likely, if he gets to 42 at all, but as Grant said ‘it’s going to be like the 1998 home run chase of my childhood’ in terms of attention, Kolzig is more stoked for what it will do for the game itself.
“I think it's gonna take it to the other level with what it's gonna do for the NHL product. What the NHL has done in the last five years is phenomenal; we're right almost on par with MLB and the NBA,” Kolzig said. “They’ve done such a good job promoting this game, and then you have something like this happen where a once-in-a-generation player is gonna break maybe one of the unbreakable records? It’s gonna be an exciting time obviously in DC, but I think for the NHL in general.”