After scoring at the end of the first period during the game between the Washington Capitals and the Philadelphia Flyers, Alex Ovechkin is now 16 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal record in the NHL. How fascinating! Isn’t it? Once, when the fans thought that no one would ever go near that mark, the Russian NHL star had some other plans.

Now that he is this close, everyone is speculating: will he be able to do it in the current season? Or will it take him one more season to grab this crown that Gretzky has worn for a long time? However, apart from predicting when he will break the record, an NHL icon was impressed by Ovie’s latest goal, and he compared it with a former Canadian ice hockey legend, who is obviously not the Great One.

As seen on NHL Network’s official X post, Dave Reid was just fond of the way Alex Ovechkin scored his recent goal against the Flyers. Stressing it, he shared his thoughts, stating, “And that is a classic goal scorer’s goal. All you need to do is get the puck to the net. He doesn’t need the open net. He doesn’t need the big shot. He just needs to make sure he gets the puck to the net. And it kind of reminded me of the Mike Bossy type of goal.” This also reminded him of Mike Bossy, who was popular back in his day, owing to such goals.

Now this compliment from the NHL icon will be like salt to the wound for those critics who don’t like Ovie’s quest for greatness. Furthermore, Reid explained this “cross-body one-time” goal, sharing his analysis, stating, “The puck comes across your body. It’s not a set one time where you’re winding up for the big shot and you’ve got to find the shot and direct the shot to the net. And that’s all he’s doing. And you know he’ll tell you he’s not looking for a low over the over the pad. He’s not looking for under the bar. He’s looking to put it into the net area to create some offense. And it’s probably about eight out of 10 times goal scorers score these goals. He’s got a stick on the ice the whole way. Just a quick little flick of the wrist comes in and it’s just he’s just putting it on the net slice and it goal score.”

Whatever Ovie did on the ice was just more than brilliant. He waited on the puck and maintained proper momentum with his skates. And the moment the puck came under his stick’s radar, he immediately tapped it, and in a direction that would be impossible for the goalie to catch it. The string of compliments didn’t end there for the Russian NHL star, as Reid revealed an intriguing statistic, stating, “Nine of 10 players could shoot the same puck. Ovie’s is going to go in 90% more than others. That’s why he is one of the best goal-scorers. He’ll break Gretzky’s record, but he’s one of the best goal scorers to ever play the game.”

Surely, Ovechkin, in the long run, will be breaking the Great One’s record in the current season. It might take him some time, but it will be before the Stanley Cup playoffs start. However, in the process of chasing the all-time goals record, Ovie has found himself around other records of NHL icons too.

Alex Ovechkin chasing a lot of records at this point

Greatness not only comes with skills on the ice but also with the reputation one has. And for Alex Ovechkin, he’s one of the players that is loved by a lot of people whenever he shows up on the rink. With him being 16 goals away from making history, there are speculations all over the community, as they all are looking forward to watching him achieve that mark.

However, recently, prior to the Flyers game, Ovie secured a goal, and it was his 25th goal of the current 2024-25 season. And this particular feat got him one step closer to Gordie Howe’s record of having 25 or more goals in 20 seasons. But how much does Ovechkin have in his own career? Currently, the tally is 19 seasons, as he wasn’t able to reach 25 goals during the 2020-21 season because it was shortened due to COVID-19.

In the latest match against the Flyers, though, Ovie was able to tie a record with Mario Lemieux. Indeed, he has now scored in a minimum of four games in a row 34 times in his career, and this was a record that only Lemieux had. This is historic from the Caps captain, and now the fans will wait for him to chase down Gretzky in the remaining regular season games.