Last night Ovechkin scored #741 v. Buffalo, tying him with Brett Hull for #4 on the All-Time list. It seems likely that so long as he is healthy he will pass Jagr before the end of the season with only 25 goals to go in the next 70 games.
Gretzky scored his record-setting 894th goal on 29 March, 1999 in his 1,479th game. At this point, not only does it seem possible that Ovechkin could actually reach Gretzky's record, but it seems plausible that he could do so inside the same number of games. It would require him to score 153 goals in 270 games. That is 0.57 goals/GP; Ovechkin's career average is 0.613 goals/GP. In the last four seasons he has scored at a rate of 0.635, and he does not appear to be slowing down.
1 Wayne Gretzky — 894 [1487 GP]
2 Gordie Howe — 801 [1767 GP]
3 Jaromir Jagr — 766 [1733 GP]
4 Alex Ovechkin — 741, *8 Nov: 11G/12GP [1209 GP]
4 Brett Hull — 741 [1269 GP]
As Ovechkin passes players on the All-Time list I will be removing them. This is the last time Brett Hull will appear on my list.
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