He went cold after his dad died last year. He was cold for a year, I'm not convinced it's decline off a cliff, just a guy down because he lost Pops. Record will be broken

Knowing Ovi, he's not going to retire until he gets that damn record lol

It's not just that the puck is going in, he's looked like a faster and more engaged player on the ice than he did for most of the season. 8 goals in the last 8 games for him now.

Losing his father, Backstrom basically being retired, and overall age clearly put him in a funk. He’s definitely back now

You can see it in his celebrations he got some fucking energy now

You also have to remember, he lost Backstrom his primary assist partner.

I'm a Caps fan and have been watching Ovi his entire career. He often plays hurt and it's easy to tell when he is because his hitting decreases. Ovi loves to hit, maybe more than scoring. The first half of the season he wasn't going out of his way to make hits. Lately that's changed so I'm guessing he wasn't at 100% the first half of the season. That may have more to do with his drop in scoring than a cold spell. Even so, two more 25+ goal seasons at his age isn't going to be easy.

In recent games, it's been clear that coaching has him moving his feet more to be in better positions to shoot, pass, avoid turnovers etc. Testament to great coaching by Carberry

I think he was playing through an injury if you watch earlier games, and it’s seemed his dad’s passing had been weighing on him for the last year.

As a lifelong Pens fan, I hope he breaks it and if he can't do it in DC, I hope he does it in Pittsburgh and I hope we give him the ovation and ceremony he deserves.

It's interesting to see Ovi have to evolve his game this late in his career. The current NHL has so much data on Ovi's shot that he was seemingly unstoppable with. Every goalie knows and every defensive minded player has the puzzle solved in their DNA, even if they sometimes forget. This league is amazing to watch and I'm so grateful to have platforms like yours to relate to the game. Thanks for your daily content

If it wasn't for labor stoppages and losing a season due to Covid he would already be well beyond Wayne at this point.

Should’ve thrown in a shoutout for that McMichael goal last night, it was nasty

Ovechkin is just a genius! If he had calmly scored 900 goals, it would have been very boring to watch. But thanks to the ups and downs, he managed to make a drama out of this situation.

dude... lets be fucking real here, Ovi is going to play for as long as he needs to beat the record. If it takes 5 years, he'll play until he's 43.

No question, he will get that record. He's only 38. And he's a half crazy, tough as nails, Russian kid at heart. Look at guys like Jagr and Howe, who played pro hockey, and played decently, long after reaching 40.

I've been a fan of Ovi since like 2015 or so, things have changed like backstrom leaving and his father dying, but he still has good players playing next to him like Wilson and Oshie, also if it weren't for 'covid' Ovi would of passed the record by now.. Regardless I'm gonna support Alex Ovechkin all the way 💪💪❤️❤️❤️

Additionally, he has had "down" years before as well. He "only" had 33 goals in 2016-2017 while playing all 82 games. Missed 3 and 4 games in 2010-2011, and 2011-2012 and had 32 and 38. He is human after all. Confidence is no small thing when it comes to this level of talent. Look no further than McDavid at the beginning of this season, and what happened when his frustration boiled over and he got it back if you don't believe me. It can make a player look like they don't have "it" anymore, when all it takes sometimes is one bounce to go your way.

Like anyone who watches most Caps games, you can see he’s been skating/moving better the last month or so, so I agree with others here that he’s probably been nursing an injury. With Kuzy out, Ovi is also now consistently skating with Strome as his center, and results have gone up. For most of the season Carberry’s been juggling lines week by week. Just give Ovi a solid center for the next 2.5 years and he’ll get the record. Without losing the 2 seasons he has already from strikes and COVID, he’d have it already

I think the only thing that can hold him back from Gretzky's record is if he gets injured. To play with the idea that at the end of the contract he is 10-20 goals behind, I think Ovechkin would sign on for another year... I mean the NHL profits from it, there has probably never been as much reported about every goal he scores as it does right now, and think it's too enticing for Ovechkin not to want.

Man I was watching a video of Gretzky and his four 5 goal games in the 80’s, and I swear man those goal tenders back then looked like a rec league goalies and their pads were so small compared to goalies now. I mean the difference in difficulty scoring goals in Gretzky’s era was much easier compared to Ovechkin’s era which makes the fact that Ovi May break his record that much more impressive.

I don't know if this correlates but I believe ovi was trying a new stick for the start of the season and he started scoring goals again when he went back to his old stick.

He is a true inspiration for the future players aiming to break that record, if it comes, man do I love hockey!!

When you look at the decline of Kuz and the fact Backs is finished, naybe it just took some time to adjust to the new players. He obviously has slowed down. I watched a 3 on 3 for the Caps recently, and he didn't even get a shift in. Not playing in the 3 on 3 will hurt his chances, but with his shot and work ethic he should get the record.

Good for Ovie. I wish him luck. He deserves it, coming from a NY Rangers fan.

Leave him alone, he'll be fine

He’s still leading the Caps in points. Ovi is one of the Goats, and maybe the goat goal scorer of all time.

I say he does break it; even if he’s a few short when he ends his contract he’ll just sign one more year to do it

If you don’t think he will break the record you are actually insane

He lost his father, Backstrom, and now Kuznetsov and he was definitely injured to begin the season. I think he's finally healthy now after the break along with his luck increasing a little bit

His dad died last year. And spent the first have of the season stapled to kuzy. He's fine and will not only bust the record i bet he passes 900 before all is said and done

Ovi will break it! The guy is legendary he never stops

Its simply amazing that people think Mathews is a better goal scorer than Ovi. Its embarrassing.

We won't see any more 50 goal seasons from Ovechkin. However he is going to beat the record. And Gretzky will be the first one to congratulate him.

He'll be fine. Even if he doesn't get it this contract, but is close enough I'm sure he'll sign just so he can break record. 56 Goals sounds like a lot, but this is Ovi we're talking about here!

i don't want him to break the record and hope he doesn't , BUT , i absolutely think yes he will break it ... there's no other reason why he's playing right now but to break the record and he'll play as long as it takes

Why are we even talking about this? If he doesn't get in his current contract you don't think he's signing sweetheart deals to get this record? If it takes another 5 years he's gonna get the record. One way or another he's gonna get it.

I hope he does break it. Also, Ovi is undoubtedly worthy of being a future hall of famer.

i feel like he will just will take a little bit longer as it probably won't be next season but the season after

He will get it. If it takes more than 2 years, the Caps will probably sign him on a 1 yr contract. Ovi has stated that he wants to finish his career as a Cap. And I'm sure he wants the record!!

if he is willing to play an extra year after the contract he's going to break it

go OV go, hope he does it, would be pretty cool.

He is also 10 GWG away from that record, held by Jagr. He'll break Wayne's record easily. My argument for the slump has been the loss of his Father and no Backstrom, not his age. He was on pace for 49-50 last season, and that was a team plagued by injuries.

The record will be broken. Period. He will not stop playing until it is broken. You know he wants that before he calls it a Career. He’s done everything you can accomplish in the NHL. That record will be the cherry on top.

Wait, are there people who think that Ovi is NOT going to break the record? It's a foregone conclusion at this point lol

The Capitals have no good centres to make the right passes to him. They probably overpaid Tom Wilson to a multi-year contract when that could have been utilized to provide Ovechkin with the right offensive teammates to help him and the team to succeed for years. With Kzunetsov and Backstrom both gone indefinitely, it doesn't help either

I can’t believe how old he looks.

I hope he does it. I’m a pens fan and the Sid/Ovi era has been a blessing to experience. Hope he does it in Pittsburgh and I hope I’m in the building.

Without a doubt he's breaking the record. Ovie has many more years of play left in him. He'll be another Jagr who plays well into old age. If even half of these years are in the NHL, he's breaking the record. Only 56 left to go and I'm sure he's got another 5 years of NHL play left in the tank. Dude is a beast.

It probably seems surreal to Ovechkin that he might do it. But he deserves it. After a long, hard-fought career. No one’s surpassing Gretzky in Assists and Points anytime soon, but it would be incredible to see Ovechkin make History.

He will get it and likely hit 900 too

If he ends up being second all time, that is also not a bad record to have. He doesn't owe us anything.

Every goal scorer needs a playmaker, not really any standout playmakers on that team.

His goals dropped off after his father passed. Those things take time to get over…. Of course he can’t skate/move like he did at 25. But he can still shoot the puck like a goal scorer. He’ll get it.

the guy has been in decline for 10 years. It's amazing how he's able to be effective without being able to carry the puck at all.

Either he's going to break the record or break a bone trying to beat the record.

He was likely playing hurt for most of the season and is finally back to his usual level of play

"Most sitting in the circle waiting for a pass so he can take a shot and hope for the best" you mean

does anyone think his dad passing might have had long term effect on him? like his dad passed 2023 some time so maybe he was just grieving or something.

WERE GONNA WITNESS HISTORY! He has two and a half years to score 70 goals

It was obvious he was holding back early in the season. It all comes down to him being allowed to pass Gretzky. The NHL is in complete control of whether or not he passes Gretzky…

Ovechkin is going to be the NHL's top goal scorer whether he does that in this current or his next contract. He's going to do it. He's currently 38 years old and I personally think he's going to play hockey until he's 44. That gives him roughly 5 to 6 sessions to get 61 goals.

Yes he will

56 goals is two mediocre seasons for Ovi, which is about what he's got left on his contract after this season. You take his 2 previous worst scoring seasons in his career, 32 and 24 (which came with him only playing 45 games) and he hits the mark and that's assuming he doesn't score again for the rest of this season. If you take his GPG avg so far this season and extrapolate for the remainder of the season, you could estimate he'll get about another 9 goals this season meaning he'll probably only need to get about 45 goals over the course of about 160 games. Unless an injury forces him to hang it up, I see Ovechkin playing until he breaks the record, especially if he's only like a dozen or so short when his current contract expires. He'd just sign 1-year deals until he chips away at the last handful of needed goals. With the number he needs it just seems inevitable at this point.

i think it’s a matter of when rather than if. Even in a down year he’ll finish with around 25 & with 2 years left on his contract i can’t see him not getting 57 more at this point. i think Regardless, Washington will keep signing him to 1-year deals until he gets it now that they’re basically entering rebuild mode. The only thing is, they at least need to get him a decent center cuz it’s clear not having a consistent or healthy Backstrom/Kuznetsov to feed him passes has held him back. Personally, i think he’s gonna go for 900 too. To be the ONLY one would be quite the record to have if he goes for those extra 5 goals, and it’ll be a LOOONG time before anyone reaches 900, if anyone even does.

I heard that his leg injury is what caused his slowness, and he was playing through it but he seems alot better

at the all star break i thought hed have like 15 goals on the season, now he could esily crack 30

I think that if he gets close he will sign a 1 year deal to get the record

1 BIG THING TO ADD - ovechkin switched sticks at the beginning of the season, and switched back late December and immediately started heating up. ( he also had 8 post hits in the first half of the season)

I hope he breaks the record. I just picked him up on my fantasy team

Ovechkin, the Great 8 is going for the Great One. What generational players to watch.

He breaks it by 5. Mentally he'll be fighting it in stretches which makes the physical game that much more of a grind as he ages (obviously) but he'll be in the office enough times to keep the "old man" comments at bay! ☺️

Since you were talking about his recent trend, may I ask why you were using unrelated highlights from one single game? Why didn’t you use the highlights of just Ovechkin from the previous five games? i’m not trying to be critical, I’m just curious

yes we all want to see it

If Ovi breaks the record then pretty soon we are gonna have to ask will Matthews break that record because his pace has been amazing.

it's gonna happen fasho... just a matter of time now

42 goals for a 37-year old is kinda insane too

I’m rooting for him

i hope he does it things need to evolve past wayne's records

to watch an unbreakable record be set and to see someone break it is kind of amazing. breaking karem's point record was something no one thought could happen. whether ovi breaks it or not, i just want to watch as he gets closer each game.

I don't think it's a matter of if he'll do it (I think he will), but I'm not convinced he'll do it in under the same amount of games played.

Ovi is great. He would have the record already, if he would have not had a lockout in his first season and Covid shortened seasons during his prime. Also note, that he`s playing in an era with less average scoring than 99. Right now, i`m not sure if he will get it. His shooting and game was off till the ASG. He looks way better now, but his speed is not longer there, he looks slower. Also, the Caps have no center for him, and are in an overall decline. With Backstrom and Kuznetsov out, it will be hard to keep production up. On top, the Metro is tight and loaded. RYR and Canes are contenders, Devils, Isles, Pens and Caps are all pushing for playoffs, and even the Philly is in there.

He won’t quit playing until he gets it, no matter what

Ovechkins father passed away last year, and this is the reason why he has not been scoring as much, this year. However he has been scoring lately, so I guess due to his loss, he was likely depressed. I would be too.

8 goals 12 points in the last 8 games

I have been so confused why you are so familiar but now I remember that there is the channel EckhartsLadder and I think u must be him also xD

I think he will break the record but a part of me doesn't want him to since I grew up as a huge Gretzky fan. We'll see what happens.

Ovi needs a pure bump!!!

OF COURSE HE WILL GET THE RECORD !!!

He’s back!

Man I like OV but I don’t think I want to see this record broken.

Since he came into the league. I knew he would join 99 in goals.here he is chasing it

Absolutely the weirdest stat choices to highlight in this video man. 5 in 5 and 10 in 18? Why not just say 8 in 8? More impressive and makes WAY more sense than adding 8 games where he didn’t score to look back at his last 18 games. Still love your content though!

If the NHL lockout season and the pandemic shortened season didn’t happen we would be watching him break the record right now, he probably would have at the least 40 more goals if those games weren’t canceled. But I still see him breaking it sometime in 2025-26 season.

Eck I love you're content. Was that just 2 minutes of you saying "ovechkin" over and over again? Maybe i'm just hammered but what was the point of this?

Kinda insane that he's chasing the record while missing almost two seasons due to lockout and Covid. If those breaks didn't happen, he could have been in the 900s by now

Go Ovechkin go

GO OVI, GO!

I think he was playing injured in the first half, 1 year older didn’t account for the drop in speed and energy. After the all star break he has looked like the old Ovi, back to 100% I think.

As a Pens fan I hope he does it