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Alex Ovechkin and his Washington Capitals are in for another long offseason after being swept in the first-round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs by the New York Rangers. The Great Eight will be entering his 20th National Hockey League season in 2024-25, and remains just 42 goals back of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record.
The Russian star revealed how he plans to change up his training routine as the chase for 894 goals continues.
“I already talk to my trainer, and we’re going to do something different,” Ovechkin confirmed this week, per The Hockey News’ Sammi Silber. “I’m always saying the same thing: If I make it, it’s good, but it’s still 42 goals. It’s kind of a long way. But it’s possible. If you’re going to be healthy, yeah.”
Ovechkin will continue working with longtime Russian trainer Pavel Burlachenko in the offseason, per Silber. If the 38-year-old is able to stay healthy — and play at least two or three more seasons — it seems inevitable that he will score more goals than Gretzky before he retires. He might not even retire until he breaks the record, regardless of how long it takes.
Capitals’ 2023-24 season was a rollercoaster, says Ovechkin
But Ovechkin started to show signs of age in 2023-24. He scored just eight goals through the first 43 games of the campaign, and seemed to be struggling on a Capitals team that hung around the playoff race all year but never comfortably.
He turned things around after the All-Star break — and a trip to Dubai — amassing 22 goals in the final 39 games of the year to help Washington squeak into the dance in 2024. But Ovechkin was again mortal in the first-round against the Rangers, failing to record a point in a playoff series for the first time in his career as the Caps went quietly in four games.
“I think it was [one of the more challenging seasons of my career],” he admitted after the season ended, per Silber.
“To be honest with you, it was tough with the whole situation, the injuries, line combinations. I was talking to [head coach Spencer Carbery] all the time, and we just try to figure out like, ‘Okay, what’s the best way for me to start doing my job and start to scoring goals, make some points?’… We have to figure out the system-wise, game-wise, and everything like that.”
It makes sense that the season took a toll on Ovechkin. He had to deal with the expectations placed on the Capitals to make the playoffs after missing in 2023, while the chase for Gretzky’s record continued in earnest. It was a lot for the Russian star.
But he’s still happy with how the team performed despite all of the noise.
“Well, I’m proud of this group because of what we’ve been through since the beginning of the year, ups and downs, injuries. We still try find a way to be in the playoff race and be able to be in that kind of mix until the end of year,” Ovechkin remarked.
“It was a fun year. It was tough year for us, but it was a good year for the guys who played a full season and get that experience, get that type of playoff hockey game. For the future, it’s going to be very good for us and for this organization.”
Ovechkin will be trying to bring playoff hockey to the nation’s capital once again in 2025, at the same time continuing to chase down The Great One.
And with a new training regime this summer, it looks like No. 8 will not be denied the title of the most prolific goal scorer of all time.
More must-reads:
- Three reasons Oilers will eliminate Canucks in the second round
- NHL announces 2024 Hart Trophy finalists
- The 'Leading scorers from the 1992-93 NBA season' quiz
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