When you score 895 goals, you literally have up to 1,790 assists to go with those…and while that’s probably mathematically but not actually possible, the list of people who have notched helpers on Alex Ovechkin’s NHL record is indeed much shorter – 122, to be exact.
Olaf Kolzig is on that list, having assisted on five Ovi goals…and when he joined Grant & Danny on Tuesday to discuss the record-setting goal, he was surprised that Alex actually remembered them!
Kolzig and his early Caps teammates knew Ovi was different even then, and knew he would be a star, but maybe not to this stratosphere.
“He's matured and become a terrific leader. He's a throwback; most kids now after games, they're drinking protein shakes and doing their stretching and Tweeting or catching up on TikTok, but Ovi will be in the back, probably with the trainers having a Bud Light, like the players did back in the 80s and 90s and 70s,” Kolzig said. “His excitement for the game, his exuberance…most Eastern Bloc players when they come over, they’re a little standoffish and you've got to gain their trust, but that wasn't the case with Ovi. He came over and right away wanted to room with a North American guy so he could learn the language and culture. Whatever we did, he wanted to be a part of it, and he didn't have any sort of like a sense of entitlement; he just wanted to be one of the guys, and I think, to a man, that's what we all really appreciated about him, because we all knew this kid was gonna be a superstar. To the level he's at now, no, but back then, we knew he was something special, and there’s still a lot of that Ovi left, but he’s a man now, and he's a leader.
Listen to Kolzig’s entire visit with Grant & Danny above!