Wayne Gretzky says Alex Ovechkin can ‘absolutely’ break his goals record

Twenty years ago on April 18, 1999 The Great One played his last NHL game. Scott Morrison goes behind the scenes and looks back at that day with Wayne Gretzky.

Wayne Gretzky has many records that, it would seem through the lens of today’s NHL, will never be touched.

How, for instance, could anyone manage to score 50 goals in the first 39 games of a season? How could anyone even approach the 215 points Gretzky put up in 80 games in 1985-86, let alone pass the 200-point plateau three more times? The 1,963 assists he wound up his career with are still more than any NHLer has points, and it’s unfathomable to think of someone going anywhere near that mark.

But, because of the all-time great goal scoring we’ve seen from Alex Ovechkin from the moment he first stepped on NHL ice in 2005-06, one of Gretzky’s most notable records could topple within the next seven years.

With 658 goals, Ovechkin is just 236 shy of tying Gretzky’s all-time mark of 894. Ovechkin will be 34 years old at the start of the next hockey season, so if you assume he has to play through his age 40 campaign, Ovechkin would have to average 33.7 goals in each of the next seven years to tie The Great One. Considering that Ovechkin has failed to hit 33 only once in his career during a full season, that’s not an unattainable number.

On top of that, Ovechkin just registered the eighth 50-goal season of his career, which is the second-most ever behind Gretzky and Mike Bossy, who did it nine times each. And every year Ovechkin scores more than 33, that average he needs to hit will continue to fall.

Gretzky joined Rob Pizzo on the Hockey Night in Canada Podcast this week and shared his thoughts on if Ovechkin can break his goals record.

“Absolutely,” Gretzky said. “First and foremost you gotta be injury free and Alex has been injury free throughout his career. You gotta play in a good organization and Alex is playing in good organization. And you have to play with good players and Alex is playing on a good team with good players.”

Health is going to be the biggest hurdle. Only once has Ovechkin missed more than four games in a season, and that came in 2009-10 when he missed 10. But as much of an iron man as he’s been to this point in his career, the toll on his body will get heavier with age.

Gretzky, of course, didn’t always hold hockey’s most sought-after offensive records. He dethroned his childhood idol along the way, eclipsing Gordie Howe’s all-time goals and points records during his career. With Thursday marking the 20-year anniversary of Gretzky’s last NHL game, he reflected on passing Howe and that, should Ovechkin ever score goal No. 895, he’d handle it much the same way Howe did.

“I just have nothing but respect for the young man,” Gretzky said of Ovechkin. “He plays hard, he plays physical, he wants to win. He’s not selfish. And as I said if he breaks my record I’ll be the first guy there to shake his hand. I think it’s good for hockey. I think it’s great for sports when people break records.

“As my dad said when I broke Gordie Howe’s record, and I was a little bit embarrassed, he said ‘you know one day someone’s going to come along and maybe break your record and you just make sure you handle yourself the same way Gordie Howe did.’ And that’s what I’m trying to do. Listen, I have nothing but respect and time for Alex and good for him. If he does get close and does break it I’ll be there at the game hopefully and hopefully I’ll be the first guy to shake his hand.”

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