The New Great One: Alexander Ovechkin Breaks Wayne Gretzky’s Scoring Record

The Capitals captain scored his record breaking 895th goal in his 1,487th regular season game.

Apr 6, 2025; Elmont, New York, USA; former Canadian-American ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky and Comissioner of the NHL Gary Bettman congratulates Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) after scoring a goal in the 2nd period against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena. The goal is the 895th of Ovechkin’s career, breaking the NHL all-time career goals record previously held by Wayne Gretzky.at UBS Arena. / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

On Sunday, Alexander Ovechkin accomplished what many people previously believed could never happen - breaing Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL goal-scoring record.

The Russian-born talent scored his 895th goal in his 1,487th regular season game, beating Islanders goalie Illya Sorokin from the top of the far circle on the power-play at 7:26 of the second period.

With Gretzky in attendance, the game was stopped for several minutes letting the Washington Capital faithful take in the monumental feat with Ovechkin and his family.

ALEX OVECHKIN IS THE GREATEST GOALSCORER IN NHL HISTORY! 🚨🚨🚨 #Gr8ness pic.twitter.com/NKef3VvNaJ

— NHL (@NHL) April 6, 2025

FANTASY HOCKEY GREATNESS 

The renowned member of the NHL 2000s All-Decade First Team has been a top-tier fantasy hockey contributor since stepping onto the ice in his rookie season. In the 2005-2006 campaign,  the amazing talent notched a 52 goals 54-assist, 106-points.

Arguably one of the greatest players to ever lace ‘em up established himself as one of the most dominant and consistent left winger’s in the sports history owning the NHL record in most goals scored by a left wing in a career (895), most goals by a left winger in a single season (65) as well as most career points by a left winger (1,616).

The Washington Capitals’ captain was the best fantasy hockey player in 2007 when he won the Hart Trophy, Art Ross Trophy and Rocket Richard Trophy after tallying a career-high 65 goals and 112 points. 

Over his first five seasons in the NHL, Ovechkin was a sure-fire round selection carrying squads in the strength of scoring 50-plus goals in four of his first five seasons. In Roto-style formats, the 39-year-old force not only helped managers dominate the all-important goals-scored but also the shots on goal category averaging a wildly impressive 4.6 shots per game. 

ALEX OVECHKIN IS NOW THE NHL'S ALL-TIME GOALS LEADER!!! 🤩🤩🤩

HE PASSES WAYNE GRETZKY WITH CAREER GOAL NO. 895! #Gr8ness pic.twitter.com/kcbDgowAIS

— NHL (@NHL) April 6, 2025

While many elite goal scorers shy away from contact, looking to avoid injury, Ovechkin also helped fantasy hockey teams rack up the points averaging 186.7 hits per season over his 20-year career.  

The sustained excellence of winning the Rocket Richard Trophy (awarded annually to the leading goal scorer in the National Hockey League) nine times, is something we may never see again in the history of the sport. On the flip side, Gretzky never once won the Rocket Richard Trophy over his illustrious Hall of Fame career. 

While also dominating at even-strength, Ovechkin made his hay with elite power-play production. After setting the NHL record in career power-play goals earlier this month, Ovi increased that total to 313 on Sunday.

Despite only notching 50-goals once over his last six seasons, the Russian-born sniper has been a superb fantasy asset yet again in 2025 scoring 42 goals in just 61 games (0.69 goals average per game). 

Over the past two decades (yes, let that sink in), fantasy managers have benefited from the “Great 8’s” durability of missing only 51 games in 20 seasons. 

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