Alex Ovechkin is widely regarded as one of the best players in recent history, if not, of all time. Since 2004, he has blessed hockey fans with incredible highlights, amazing goals and funny moments. Even with Ovechkin’s many accomplishments, many people have doubted his abilities, claiming that he was never good enough to win a championship and truly cement himself as one of the greats. That doubt was squashed when he won the Stanley Cup in 2018, giving him a key addition to his Hall of Fame career.
Now his sights are on something much bigger: the National Hockey League (NHL) goals record. This record, achieved previously by Wayne Gretzky (894 goals), is a record that has stood for over 30 years. However, Ovechkin has been steadily catching up to Gretzky as he currently sits five goals away from having the record. With Ovechkin sitting at 890 goals in his career, he is on the cusp of being placed into hockey immortality. Washington Capitals fans, and the National Hockey League as a whole, have been watching each and every game he plays in to see if he will score and continue this historic chase. This has led to ESPN+ producing an alternative presentation of select Capitals games called OviCast, a way for hockey fans to closely monitor Ovechkin’s pursuit of greatness. Each OviCast features an isolated camera on Ovechkin in one box with record-breaking information below it paired with the game in a different box.
Many people wondered if Ovechkin could reach this historic milestone this season. With Ovechkin being on the older side of a hockey career at 39 years old and 42 goals away from the record prior to this season, many fans thought he did not have enough in him to make history. However, he is currently sitting at 37 goals as of writing, and with nine games left in the season, everyone is awaiting the moment where he enters hockey immortality.
