Alex Ovechkin goals tracker: The Great Eight 27 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time record of 894

A once seemingly unbreakable NHL record could fall as early as the 2024-25 season thanks to the goal-scoring prowess of Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin.

The Great Eight is within striking distance of Wayne Gretzky's all-time NHL goals record of 894, which Gretzky reached on March 29, 1999 against the New York Islanders. Ovechkin began this season with 853 career goals. He's now at 868.

"It's just a matter of time, whether it's late this year, early next year, whenever," Gretzky told NHL.com earlier this season about Ovechkin's chances of breaking his record. "I mean, he's a great player. He's a great goal scorer."

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in December that he will follow Ovechkin around when he's within four or five goals of the record with Gretzky will accompanying him.

Ovechkin started this season red-hot, with 15 goals in his first 18 games. His golden touch continued since the end of the 2023-24 season when he tallied 13 goals over his last 17 games — making it a stretch of 35 goals in his last 35 games dating back to March of last season.

Unfortunately, a fractured fibula sidelined Ovechkin on Nov. 18, causing him to miss 16 games for the Capitals. The Capitals captain has been durable for his entire NHL career, having missed only 75 games due to injury since breaking in during the 2005-06 season.

We will track Ovechkin's race to 894 goals and beyond all season.

NHL top-10 in career goals

1. Wayne Gretzky (894)2. Alex Ovechkin (868)3. Gordie Howe (801)4. Jaromir Jagr (766)5. Brett Hull (741)6. Marcel Dionne (731)7. Phil Esposito (717)8. Mike Gartner (708)9. Mark Messier (694)10. Steve Yzerman (692)

Remaining 2024-25 regular-season games

Sat, Dec 28: at Toronto, 7 p.m. ETSun, Dec 29: at Detroit, 5 p.m. ETTue, Dec 31: vs. Boston, 12:30 p.m. ETThu, Jan 2: vs. Minnesota, 7 p.m. ETSat, Jan 4: vs. Rangers, 12 p.m. ETMon, Jan 6: at Buffalo, 7 p.m. ETWed, Jan 8: vs. Vancouver, 7:30 p.m. ETFri, Jan 10: vs. Montreal, 7 p.m. ETSat, Jan 11: at Nashville, 8 p.m. ETTue, Jan 14: vs. Anaheim, 7 p.m. ETThu, Jan 16: at Ottawa, 7 p.m. ETSat, Jan 18: vs. Pittsburgh, 7 p.m. ETTue, Jan 21: at Edmonton, 9 p.m. ETThu, Jan 23: at Seattle, 10 p.m. ETSat, Jan 25: at Vancouver, 10 p.m. ETTue, Jan 28: at Calgary, 9 p.m. ETThu, Jan 30: at Ottawa, 7 p.m. ETSat, Feb 1: vs. Winnipeg, 7 p.m. ETTue, Feb 4: vs. Florida, 7 p.m. ETThu, Feb 6: at Philadelphia, 7 p.m. ETSun, Feb 9: vs. Utah, 12:30 p.m. ETSat, Feb 22: at Pittsburgh, 3 p.m. ETSun, Feb 23: vs. Edmonton, 1 p.m. ETTue, Feb 25: vs. Calgary, 7 p.m. ETThu, Feb 27: vs. St. Louis, 7 p.m. ETSat, Mar 1: vs. Tampa Bay, 12:30 p.m. ETMon, Mar 3: vs. Ottawa, 6:30 p.m. ETWed, Mar 5: at Rangers, 7 p.m. ET Fri, Mar 7: vs. Detroit, 7 p.m. ETSun, Mar 9: vs. Seattle, 3:30 p.m. ETTue, Mar 11: at Anaheim, 10 p.m. ETThu, Mar 13: at Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m. ETSat, Mar 15: at San Jose, 5 p.m. ETTue, Mar 18: vs. Detroit, 7 p.m. ETThu, Mar 20: vs. Philadelphia, 7 p.m. ETSat, Mar 22: vs. Florida, 5 p.m. ETTue, Mar 25: at Winnipeg, 8 p.m. ETThu, Mar 27: at Minnesota, 8 p.m. ETSun, Mar 30: vs. Buffalo, 3 p.m. ETTue, Apr 1: at Boston, 7 p.m. ETWed, Apr 2: at Carolina, 7 p.m. ETFri, Apr 4: vs. Chicago, 7 p.m. ETSun, Apr 6: at Islanders, 12:30 p.m. ETThu, Apr 10: vs. Carolina, 7:30 p.m. ETSat, Apr 12: at Columbus, 7 p.m. ETSun, Apr 13: vs. Columbus, 6 p.m. ETTue, Apr 15: at Islanders, 8 p.m. ETThu, Apr 17: at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m. ET

Goaltenders scored on (178)

Marc-Andre Fleury27Henrik Lundqvist24Kari Lehtonen22Carey Price22Cam Ward19Ryan Miller19Ondrej Pavelec18Sergei Bobrovsky16Devan Dubnyk12Brian Elliott11Andrei Vasilevskiy11Craig Anderson10Jaroslav Halak10Ben Bishop10Tuukka Rask10Alexandar Georgiev10Roberto Luongo9Carter Hutton9Frederik Andersen9Petr Mrazek9Ray Emery8Martin Gerber8Tim Thomas8Scott Clemmensen8Vesa Toskala8Tomas Vokoun8Evgeni Nabokov8Jimmy Howard8Steve Mason8Cory Schneider8Semyon Varlamov8Martin Brodeur7Antero Niittymaki7Jean-Sebastien Giguere7John Grahame7Jonathan Quick7Jonathan Bernier7Cam Talbot7Thomas Greiss7Ed Belfour6Cristobal Huet6Miikka Kiprusoff6James Reimer6Jacob Markstrom6Matt Murray6Mackenzie Blackwood6Carter Hart6Pascal Leclaire5Robert Esche5Alex Auld5Rick DiPietro5Dwayne Roloson5Karri Ramo5Mike Smith5Dan Ellis5Curtis McElhinney5Corey Crawford5Martin Jones5Casey DeSmith5Jake Allen5Martin Biron4Johan Hedberg4Nikolai Khabibulin4Joey MacDonald4Antti Niemi4Jhonas Enroth4Ilya Bryzgalov4Dustin Tokarski4Al Montoya4Anton Khudobin4Anders Nilsson4Eddie Läck4Robin Lehner4John Gibson4Keith Kinkaid4Scott Darling4Connor Hellebuyck4Juuse Saros4Igor Shesterkin4Thatcher Demko4Elvis Merzlikins4Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen4Pyotr Kochetkov4Sean Burke3Marty Turco3Peter Budaj3Andrew Raycroft3Johan Holmqvist3Ty Conklin3Mike McKenna3Brent Johnson3Jose Theodore3Chad Johnson3Michael Hutchinson3Louis Domingue3Scott Wedgewood3Philipp Grubauer3Jordan Binnington3Alex Lyon3Daniil Tarasov3Nico Daws3Joseph Woll3Mikael Tellqvist2Chris Mason2Brian Boucher2Garth Snow2Mike Dunham2Marc Denis2Dany Sabourin2Steve Valiquette2Niklas Bäckström2Yann Danis2Jeff Deslauriers2Matt Hackett2Reto Berra2Viktor Fasth2Linus Ullmark2Andrew Hammond2Antti Raanta2Darcy Kuemper2Christopher Gibson2Jack Campbell2Pekka Rinne2Mikko Koskinen2Joonas Korpisalo2Marcus Hogberg2Alex Stalock2Daniel Vladar2Filip Gustavsson2Spencer Knight2Jake Oettinger2Tristan Jarry2Sam Montembeault2Logan Thompson2Spencer Martin2Kaapo Kahkonen2Alex Nedeljkovic2Samuel Ersson2Dustin Wolf2Ilya Samsonov2Kevin Weekes1Chris Osgood1Michael Garnett1Hannu Toivonen1Adam Munro1Curtis Sanford1Sebastien Caron1Jamie McLennan1Dominik Hasek1Fredrik Norrena1Olaf Kölzig1Michael Leighton1Patrick Lalime1Jonas Gustavsson1Nathan Lawson1Anders Lindbäck1Justin Peters1Ben Scrivens1Jason LaBarbera1Josh Harding1Marek Mazanec1Jonas Hiller1Anton Forsberg1Harri Sateri1Laurent Brossoit1Aaron Dell1Jeremy Swayman1Adin Hill1Chris Driedger1Ville Husso1Karel Vejmelka1Stuart Skinner1Felix Sandstrom1David Rittich1Pheonix Copley1Yaroslav Askarov1Cayden Primeau1Connor Ingram1

Number of different NHL goaltenders scored on

1. Alex Ovechkin (178)Jaromir Jagr2. Patrick Marleau (177) 3. Mark Messier (164) 4. Ron Francis (157) 5. Wayne Gretzky (155) 6. Dave Andreychuk (154) 7. Mike Gartner (152) Teemu Selanne8. Mark Recchi (151) Jarome Iginla Brendan Shanahan

Ovechkin milestone goal timeline

No. 1: Oct. 2, 2005 vs. Columbus Blue Jackets (Pascal Leclaire)

No. 50: April 13, 2006 vs. Atlanta Thrashers (Mike Dunham)

No. 100: Oct. 12, 2007 vs. New York Rangers (Henrik Lundqvist)

No. 200: Feb. 5, 2009 (Jonathan Quick)

No. 300: April 5, 2011 (James Reimer)

No. 400: Dec. 20, 2013 (empty net)

No. 500: Jan. 10, 2016 (Andrew Hammond)

No. 600: March 12, 2018 (Connor Hellebuyck)

No. 700: Feb. 22, 2020 (Mackenzie Blackwood)

No. 800: Dec. 13, 2022 (Petr Mrazek)

Hat tricks by season (32 career)

2005-06: 12006-07: 12007-08: 32008-09: 32009-10: 12010-11: 12011-12: 02012-13: 22013-14: 12014-15: 02015-16: 22016-17: 22017-18: 32018-19: 32019-20: 42020-21: 02021-22: 12022-23: 22023-24: 02024-25: 1