“Right now, it’s been, like, five days, and it’s still crazy what we did… It’s hard to believe, like, history was made,” Alex Ovechkin said after the Capitals held their special on-ice ceremony to honor the record breaker. The Gr8 Chase came to an end on April 6, when the Great 8 scored goal number 895 to surpass the legendary Wayne Gretzky. However, the father is still very much alive.
After all, as Sidney Crosby put it, it was a record that many thought would be “impossible to touch.” So naturally, the hype surrounding the record grew to overwhelming proportions as Ovi inched closer to scripting history. It overshadowed Crosby breaking another Gretzky record and also buried the fact that Ovechkin himself is inching closer to another all-time milestone.
So what is that milestone? GinoHard on X put things into perspective. “Ovechkin’s hit totals compared to the NHL’s top goal scorers is NUTS,” wrote the page while comparing the Russian NHL star’s career hits record alongside his contemporaries. And it’s not even close. With 3,739 hits on the ice, Alex Ovechkin is miles ahead of his closest competitor, Sidney Crosby.
How far ahead, you ask? Well, the Pittsburgh Penguins captain, who debuted in the same season, and had 623 goals, has only 1,180 hits. If that doesn’t sound like a massive gap, here’s some more info. Third-placed Steven Stamkos (582 goals) of the Nashville Predators has 1,283. That means Crosby and Stamkos combined have 1,276 fewer hits than Ovi.
Ovechkin’s hit totals compared to the NHL’s top goal scorers is NUTS
Built different pic.twitter.com/jiDrOXtGeS
— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) April 11, 2025
In fact, you’d need to add, fourth-placed Evgeni Malkin and fifth-placed John Tavares’ hits records to finally surpass the 39-year-old’s record. Ovechkin’s monstrous hits record puts him in third place on the all-time list. Keeping Alex Ovechkin’s longevity in mind, he may overtake Matt Martin (3,933 hits) to take second place in the next one or two seasons. Yet, that doesn’t mean Sidney Crosby, who broke Wayne Gretzky’s record of 20 consecutive seasons averaging one point per game, is jealous of his rival.
Crosby had nothing but praise for Alex Ovechkin
Sidney Crosby, like everyone else in the hockey community, paid attention as Ovechkin neared Wayne Gretzky’s record. So when the Washington Capitals captain finally broke their record, he felt glad to be the Gr8’s contemporary. “Ovi, it’s been an honor to compete against you all these years,” the Penguins captain wrote in his tribute to the prolific goalscorer.
“Over that time, you have accomplished so many milestones, but this one was probably thought to be impossible, and you found a way to do it. Congratulations on scoring the most goals in NHL history. Hope you have a great night celebrating with your friends and family,” Alex Ovechkin’s rival said in his heartfelt post for the ice hockey icon.
However, Crosby himself is on the cusp of breaking a very different record. Although the Four Nations Face-Off winner was never a goal-scoring machine like Gretzky or Ovechkin, his expertise lies in scoring points. The Penguin’s captain has already racked up 89 points this season. The only Penguins player ahead of Crosby to score more points is the legendary Mario Lemieux.
While Lemieux is still ahead of Crosby with 1723 points, Crosby is not far behind with 1685. So it’s only a matter of time before the Canadian hockey veteran catches up to Lemieux and scripts history just like Alex Ovechkin.
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