Ovechkin reaches 750 career goals faster than Howe, Jagr originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Alex Ovechkin continues to march towards Wayne Gretzky’s goal-scoring record, but the Washington Capitals forward is reminding everyone how great he’s been throughout his NHL career.
The 36-year-old scored his 750th career goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets, but as NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti pointed out, Ovechkin is making history while becoming hockey’s greatest goal scorer. The Caps captain is the second-fastest to reach 750 goals.
Ovechkin was faster than Gordie Howe and Jaromir Jagr in reaching the milestone. It took him 1,220 to score that amount of goals; meanwhile, Gretzky was the only one faster than Ovechkin, as the former Edmonton Oiler needed 1,001 games to reach 750.
Next on Ovechkin’s list of players to overtake is Jagr, who has 766 career goals. Permitting health, it seems that he’ll be overtaking third place at some point this season. However, at the pace that Ovechkin is trending, he could even flirt with catching Howe at 801.
Nonetheless, as the Caps captain proceeds scoring at this pace, chasing down Gretzky doesn’t seem all that wild to think, especially if he’s scoring goals at a better rate than the two players below Gretzky.
