Was Goal #900 Ovechkin’s Last Milestone?

While it seemed inevitable, Alex Ovechkin finally reached the 900-goal mark Wednesday night against the St. Louis Blues, although it took longer than most people expected.

The Capitals’ captain’s slow start to the 2025-26 campaign meant he didn’t net his third goal of the season until his 13th game, and even the milestone marker was scored in unusual fashion, an excuse-me backhand that got behind Blues goalie Jordan Binnington to become the first player in NHL history to score 900 goals.

While Ovechkin’s record-setting 895th goal was a rocket from the circle, this one was a “muffin,” as he said afterwards on the Washington broadcast.

The lack of scoring wasn’t for a lack of trying. Ovechkin skated more than any other Washington forward against the Blues, and was among the team leaders in ice time this past weekend against the New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres in an attempt to reach the mark.

Throughout his career, Ovechkin has always been a streaky scorer, but with the next milestone having been so close at just three needed to reach the mark when the season began, his slower start was more pronounced as he had been goalless in four straight games – all Washington losses (0-3-1) – and an offense that had sputtered in that stretch with just five goals in those games.

But in the end, Ovechkin did get the record in front of the home fans at Capital One Arena, and as the entire team jumped off the bench to celebrate, there was a feeling of perhaps this is the last major milestone the star will get in the NHL.

Ovechkin had scored his 700th and 800th goals away from home, and the 600th goal was scored so long ago it came a month before Washington’s Stanley Cup run in 2018 began, and of course, the record-setting goal came at UBS Arena on Long Island, so the home fans hadn’t seen an Ovechkin milestone goal at home in a long time.

Certainly, whatever goals Ovechkin scores the rest of his career will just add to his record total and make the record that much more difficult to catch for someone down the road, but with rumors of retirement from the NHL, it seems more and more unlikely he will become the first player to reach the 1,000-goal mark in the NHL. Certainly, even if productive, it would require at least two additional seasons, if not more, and it seems even one more may be a stretch for him to remain in Washington.

Ovechkin certainly has looked a bit slower and more lumbering so far this season, although he did miss time during training camp due to injury, so his health is a bit of an unknown, as the Washington star has played not at 100 percent for stretches of his career without missing a beat. And, despite the relative lack of production, he is still playing most of Washington’s entire power plays and getting among the team leaders in ice time among Capitals forwards.

Seven months removed from his record-setting afternoon against the Islanders and now a month into his 21st NHL season, there is still little information on how much longer Ovechkin will be in the NHL, as he has remained quiet on the subject so far.

It’s possible Ovechkin can reach 925 goals sometime this season and maybe 950 if he stays around at least one more season, but after scoring 44 goals last year, it is possible that Father Time has finally caught up to Ovechkin. Although he has certainly defied that, needing 200 goals for his last 100 goals, at that pace, he would need to play two more full seasons after this one to reach four digits.

There are smaller records to chase of course, as Ovechkin is just one home goal away from tying Gordie Howe for most goals scored in one building, as he has 440 goals at Capital One Arena, while Howe set the mark at Detroit’s old Olympia. But in terms of individual records, it seems to he the last major one standing that seemed within reach.

Ovechkin’s career has been immeasurable for the franchise, jump-starting a rebuild and leading the team to its first Stanley Cup title in 2018, along with three Presidents’ Trophies and playoff appearances in all but two seasons since 2008.

Sportico also valued Washington as the ninth most valuable NHL franchise at $2.3 billion, in no small part thanks to Ovechkin selling tickets over the years and making his No. 8 jersey in various designs one of the best-selling in the league. This doesn’t happen without the Russian star on the team, and he will go down as one of the greatest athletes in Washington professional sports history – if he isn’t there already.

But his time in Washington seems fleeting, and the best-case scenario may be that fans will have 18 months of Ovechkin in a Capitals sweater, so without any knowledge of really how many more games he has left in the NHL, this milestone could be his final one.

So, perhaps for at least one last time, Ovechkin and Washington fans got a chance to celebrate his unique career with a milestone tally Wednesday, and not knowing what else will be left in a future Hall of Fame career before he goes back over to the KHL to hold a victory lap with Dynamo Moscow whenever he leaves Washington.