Alexander Ovechkin surpassed Wayne Gretzky to become the NHL’s all-time leading scorer on Sunday – almost a decade after claiming it would be ‘impossible’ to do so.
The Washington Capitals legend fired home the 895th goal of his NHL career in their 4-1 defeat to the New York Islanders, which broke the scoring record held by Gretzky for a staggering 31 years.
After the historic moment, Ovechkin was congratulated on the ice by the hockey icon he moved ahead of in the all-time standings after Sunday’s game was briefly brought to a halt.
‘They say records are made to be broken, but I’m not sure who’s going to get more goals than that,’ Gretzky said during the ceremony.
And funnily enough, Alex made almost exactly the same prediction about Wayne’s long-standing record nine years ago.
Back in 2016, Ovechkin was asked by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman about the prospect of edging past Gretzky to become the leading scorer in NHL history.
Alexander Ovechkin (left) broke the NHL scoring record Wayne Gretzky (right) held for 31 years
‘I don’t think somebody is going to beat this record in this league. I think it’s impossible,’ he insisted.
Friedman responded: ‘You could challenge him, you might be able to do it.’
‘No,’ Ovechkin argued. ‘I have to have six seasons of 50 goals. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to skate in six seasons.’
Not only has he ended up breaking Gretzky’s record, but the Capitals left winger has also gone on to skate for another nine years and counting.
He did not need six 50-goal seasons to achieve the feat, either, having only reached that number on two occasions since that 2016 interview.
Two years later, Ovechkin also cast further doubt on his chances of breaking the record.
‘I don’t think it’s possible to beat that record,’ he told Igor Eronko in 2018. You have to play till you’re 60. Jagr tried but couldn’t. Hockey isn’t the same. Everything is much more difficult now.
Ovechkin is now the NHL’s all-time leading scorer after firing home the 895th goal of his career
‘To beat the record I have to score 50 each year. It’s hard.’
After doing the impossible on Sunday, Ovechkin took the microphone from Gretzky like a torch being passed from one legend of the game to another.
He thanked injured teammates Nicklas Backstrom and TJ Oshie, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2018, and expressed his affection for his wife, mother and two sons standing nearby.
‘We did it, boys. We did it,’ Ovechkin said. ‘And the most important thing, to my mom, my family, my beautiful wife, my father-in-law, my beautiful kids, thank you. I love you so much, and without you, without your support I would never stand here.’
