{"id":81389,"date":"2025-07-21T19:27:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T19:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/81389\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T19:27:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T19:27:11","slug":"alex-ovechkin-on-if-he-wants-someone-to-break-his-nhl-goals-record-god-willing-i-will-congratulate-that-player-just-like-gretzky-congratulated-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/81389\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Ovechkin on if he wants someone to break his NHL goals record: \u2018God willing. I will congratulate that player, just like Gretzky congratulated me.\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Ovechkin<\/strong> will continue a tradition that Gordie Howe once started with Wayne Gretzky if a player is ever able to eclipse his number of goals in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod willing, someone will break my record,\u201d Ovechkin said to reporters per RIA Novosti<\/a> and translated by Google Translate. \u201cI won\u2019t name names, there are a lot of talented and great players. If that happens, then of course I will congratulate that player, just like Gretzky congratulated me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gretzky was all class as it became apparent, even years before, that Ovechkin might capture his goals record.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s great, and if he does get there, and if he does break my record, I said I would be the first guy there to shake his hand,\u201d he said to Sportsnet in 2020<\/a>. \u201cI remember when Gordie was following me around and I was breaking his record. I said to my Dad one night, \u2018You know, in some ways, I feel kind of bad for Gordie Howe.\u2019 And my dad said, you know what, somebody is going to break your record. And when he does, make sure you are as much a gentleman to him as Gordie Howe is to you. You smile, you shake his hand, and you are proud of what you accomplished. It\u2019s better for the game. That is what I always think of. I always think of Gordie Howe and what my dad told me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gretzky began attending Capitals games as Ovechkin neared his mark. \u201cThe Great One\u201d was at Capital One Arena on April 4<\/a> when Ovechkin scored twice against the Chicago Blackhawks to tie his goals record of 894<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

After scoring the tying marker, Ovechkin skated to center ice and bowed to Gretzky, who was sitting in Ted Leonsis\u2019s owners\u2019 box<\/a> \u2014 a powerful moment, both honoring the history of the game and the NHL\u2019s greatest player.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Two days later, Gretzky was at UBS Arena when Ovechkin scored his 895th goal against the New York Islanders, capturing the all-time record. The NHL paused the game to celebrate Ovechkin\u2019s accomplishment<\/a>, and Gretzky congratulated \u201cThe Great 8\u201d during the on-ice ceremony.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said I\u2019d be the first one to shake your hand when you broke the record,\u201d Gretzky said, pointing out he kept his promise.<\/p>\n

Inside the locker room after the game, Ovechkin and Gretzky also took a photo together with the record-breaking goal puck.<\/p>\n

The gesture follows what Howe did for Gretzky, when the four-time Stanley Cup champion broke his all-time points record in 1989. Howe, Gretzky\u2019s childhood hero, followed the Los Angeles Kings as Gretzky neared the mark. On October 15, 1989, Gretzky recorded his 1,851st point against the Edmonton Oilers. The league stopped the game and held a ceremony where Howe congratulated Gretzky on the ice.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to say in all honesty that I\u2019ve been looking forward to this day,\u201d Howe said then. \u201cI\u2019ve been spending the last 10 days with Wayne, and I thought I knew him before. He\u2019s grown an inch taller than he was in my mind. A super young man and a great hockey player who shares in everything he does. It\u2019s really nice for me to be sharing those honors with Wayne. Congratulations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howe did not end up following Gretzky when \u201cThe Great One\u201d was nearing his former goals record of 801. Gretzky eclipsed his mark on March 23, 1994, when he scored his 802nd career goal against the Vancouver Canucks.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Hali Hockey Blog explains why:<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Luckily, I found the Los Angeles Times article from the next day (March 24) by Lisa Dillman that talks about the record. The article states near the end that the two downsides of the night were the absence of Howe and the Kings lost to Vancouver 6-3. She did mention Howe was going to attend a ceremony honoring Gretzky prior to the next home game one week later against the Mighty Ducks. It also mentioned Howe followed Gretzky in 1989 while he chased his 1850 points, also a record at the time. There was a mention of Howe\u2019s bitter (to quote the article) comments that his World Hockey Association totals were not counted in the NHL record book. Howe made the decision not to follow Gretzky around and did not change his mind as Gretzky chased the record.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If Howe\u2019s 174 regular season goals scored while playing in the WHA are counted, he would have a total of 975. Gretzky, who had 46 as a member of the WHA\u2019s Indianapolis Racers, finished his career with 940. Bobby Hull would have 913 and Ovechkin would sit fourth at 897 as of now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex Ovechkin will continue a tradition that Gordie Howe once started with Wayne Gretzky if a player is…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":81390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-81389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114892874902696302","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}