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.

Ovechkin scored the 876th goal of his career and his 23rd of the season against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. He is 19 goals away from surpassing Gretzky, with 31 games remaining in the season.

“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 accompanying him.

Ovechkin started this season red-hot, with 15 goals in his first 18 games. Unfortunately, a fractured fibula suffered on Nov. 18 caused him to miss 16 games for the Capitals. The “Russian Machine” has been durable for his entire NHL career, having missed only 75 games due to injury since breaking in during the 2005-06 season.

For their next game, Ovechkin and the Capitals will host the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.

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 (876)
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, Feb 1: vs. Winnipeg, 7 p.m. ET
Tue, Feb 4: vs. Florida, 7 p.m. ET
Thu, Feb 6: at Philadelphia, 7 p.m. ET
Sun, Feb 9: vs. Utah, 12:30 p.m. ET
Sat, Feb 22: at Pittsburgh, 3 p.m. ET
Sun, Feb 23: vs. Edmonton, 1 p.m. ET
Tue, Feb 25: vs. Calgary, 7 p.m. ET
Thu, Feb 27: vs. St. Louis, 7 p.m. ET
Sat, Mar 1: vs. Tampa Bay, 12:30 p.m. ET
Mon, Mar 3: vs. Ottawa, 6:30 p.m. ET
Wed, Mar 5: at Rangers, 7 p.m. ET
Fri, Mar 7: vs. Detroit, 7 p.m. ET
Sun, Mar 9: vs. Seattle, 3:30 p.m. ET
Tue, Mar 11: at Anaheim, 10 p.m. ET
Thu, Mar 13: at Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m. ET
Sat, Mar 15: at San Jose, 5 p.m. ET
Tue, Mar 18: vs. Detroit, 7 p.m. ET
Thu, Mar 20: vs. Philadelphia, 7 p.m. ET
Sat, Mar 22: vs. Florida, 5 p.m. ET
Tue, Mar 25: at Winnipeg, 8 p.m. ET
Thu, Mar 27: at Minnesota, 8 p.m. ET
Sun, Mar 30: vs. Buffalo, 3 p.m. ET
Tue, Apr 1: at Boston, 7 p.m. ET
Wed, Apr 2: at Carolina, 7 p.m. ET
Fri, Apr 4: vs. Chicago, 7 p.m. ET
Sun, Apr 6: at Islanders, 12:30 p.m. ET
Thu, Apr 10: vs. Carolina, 7:30 p.m. ET
Sat, Apr 12: at Columbus, 7 p.m. ET
Sun, Apr 13: vs. Columbus, 6 p.m. ET
Tue, Apr 15: at Islanders, 8 p.m. ET
Thu, Apr 17: at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m. ET

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: 1
2006-07: 1
2007-08: 3
2008-09: 3
2009-10: 1
2010-11: 1
2011-12: 0
2012-13: 2
2013-14: 1
2014-15: 0
2015-16: 2
2016-17: 2
2017-18: 3
2018-19: 3
2019-20: 4
2020-21: 0
2021-22: 1
2022-23: 2
2023-24: 0
2024-25: 1