The Evolution of Alex Ovechkin and His Chase of Wayne Gretzky's 'Unbreakable' Record

WASHINGTON — It's a frigid Saturday night in January in Washington D.C., and the Capitals are trailing the lowly Ottawa Senators 2-0 heading into the third period. The 2018 Stanley Cup winners have not delivered on a second championship, and many have wondered if the window of contention has shut.

It's a fair question.

The Capitals will make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, their spot secure in a top-heavy Eastern Conference. The core is aging, though, and the goaltending is shaky.

Alexander Ovechkin, the Caps' 36-year-old ageless wonder of a captain, is—to use a hockey term from a younger generation—buzzin'.

He's all over the ice. His energy was evident.

Less than two minutes into the third period, Trevor van Riemsdyk banked a puck off the side of the goal, and Ovechkin went high over goalie Matt Murray to cut the lead in half.

Later in the third, Nicklas Backstrom, Ovechkin's longtime linemate, sent him a backdoor pass, and he beat Murray high again.

The puck was hit so cleanly that it bounced off the back of the net and out, and the goal wasn't awarded until a review. It was his 28th of the season and the 759th of his career.

"It's not fun to play two periods without a goal," Ovechkin said. "Going into the third period 2-0, you have to work hard and make a push. That's what we did. I think we find a way, and we take it."

This year's team has dealt with injuries to key players like Backstrom and, like every other team, COVID-19. But they've faced adversity in the past, and the reason they've been able to continually contend is largely because of Ovechkin. The window isn't closed until Ovechkin shuts it himself.

"There are a few guys in the room there that have been here for quite some time that has had a heavy hand in the direction of this team. And he's a guy that has made the most every year that he's had," coach Peter Laviolette said. "It may not all be career years, but yet the organization and team remains successful. He has a big part of that. It shouldn't surprise."

What does surprise is the fact that he could soon break Wayne Gretzky's record of 894 goals, the most in NHL history. Ovechkin still has to pass Jaromir Jagr and Gordie Howe on the NHL's all-time goals list, but he's been on pace for roughly a 50-goal season for the last few months, and his incredible durability has many around him believing that he will break that record.

Gretzky thinks he can do it. The general manager who drafted him, George McPhee, thinks he can do it. His teammates, past and present, think he can do what was once unthinkable.

"There are a few of (Gretzky's) records that I didn't think [anyone] would have a chance. We all knew what he could do, but still, it just doesn't make sense to be that guy," former Washington defenseman Karl Alzner told Bleacher Report.

"You know, if he beats that record, which we think he will, he'd be pretty damn close to 900 goals. It's insane to think, 900 goals. The fact that this has a good chance to fall is very, very neat."

What is it, exactly, that's allowing a 36-year-old winger to make history like this? 

"Well, I guess still have fun. I still love the game," Ovechkin said. "I'm enjoying being on the ice, off the ice, spend time with this group of guys. So I think that's the most important thing."

Ovechkin is in the midst of his 17th NHL season, but it's quite possible that his most famous goal came during his first. It's become known as "The Goal" because there really isn't any other way to describe it. It came on January 16, 2006, against the Phoenix Coyotes, who were then coached by Gretzky.

Ovechkin intercepted a puck in the neutral zone, entered the Phoenix zone with speed, went one-on-one with defenseman Paul Mara and beat goalie Brian Boucher while sliding on his back.

It's funny that this became the goal he was best known for, considering he's famous for ripping one-timers from the circle—especially on the power play where he ranks first all-time with 276.

However, it further illustrates how dangerous and dynamic of a scorer he has always been. Ovechkin's reputation preceded him before that 52-goal, Calder Trophy-winning season.

He was drafted with the first overall pick in 2004 as a Russian Super League phenom and came to the NHL after the 2004-05 lockout ended.

McPhee, now the president of hockey operations for the Vegas Golden Knights, was tasked with rebuilding the Capitals after a last-place finish in 2003-04. The club traded Jagr, Peter Bondra, Robert Lang, Sergei Gonchar, Michael Nylander, Anson Carter and Mike Grier that season and needed a new franchise face.

Ovechkin had been projected as the first overall pick for two years at that point, with the Florida Panthers attempting to draft him as a 17-year-old the year before (he missed the cutoff date for draft eligibility in 2003 by just two days).

McPhee took a trip to the Czech Republic to watch Ovechkin in the IIHF World Championships and booked the same hotel as the Russian team in an attempt to talk to the teenage forward before any agents or handlers could coach him on what to say to executives.

"He was then what he is today: wide open," McPhee told B/R. "And we had a great conversation and thought that he really had the personality and what it would take to be a great player in this league."

Scott Cunningham/Getty Images

In a league that tends to be somewhat devoid of personality, the big, bold Ovechkin has stood apart from the rest.

"For me, coming in here with Sergei Fedorov on one hand and then Ovi on the other hand, Sergei Fedorov is kind of like quiet. He just kind of exudes confidence. Everybody's watching everything he does. Whatever Feds does is cool. Right?" Alzner said.

"Then you have Ovi, who was younger too, so there's that, but he was louder. He has headphones on singing at the top of his lungs like you would sing in the shower by yourself, and he was kind of funny. I was watching Feds because I wanted to know everything that he did, but I was watching Ovi because you couldn't take your eyes away from how funny he was."

Ovechkin would often be seen walking around in giant Beats by Dre headphones, singing everything from Rihanna to Russian music. Teammates could hear him in the hallway of Capital One Arena and in the dressing room at that practice facility.

"He would just belt it out," Alzner said. "It was like no shame."

It's become part of his charm. He hydrates with soda during games and slams Red Bulls in his luxury sports cars while driving teammates to games in high-speed rides. He plays basketball and tennis during the offseason.

The gregarious personality endeared him to a generation of fans and made fans of his own teammates in the dressing room.

"You come into this league, and you think that everyone's dialed in with their diet and the way that they take care of their bodies and stuff. And then you see him and Backie like drinking Pepsis and stuff in between periods, and it's like, 'Oh, these guys are doing it then I've got to do it,'" Alzner said. "

Then you gotta have the team that's cracking Pepsi's in between periods and stuff, and you just think that it's just normal. Right? And he proved or showed to us that you can be successful in different ways than you expect."

Every young player of a certain caliber draws comparisons to greats of the past, and that was true to a certain extent with Ovechkin, who was often compared to one of his idols, Mario Lemieux. But he quickly forged his own identity with his high-flying, hard-hitting style of play.

The Great 8 has nearly 3,000 hits in his career. The 6'3", 238-pound left wing absolutely destroys opponents along the wall and makes it tough to get positioning around the net.

He has never been afraid to play an exceptionally physical brand of hockey, even if some wondered whether or not it would shorten his career. The perseverance and effort he uses to create offense, pass and score remain exceptional.

"He'll do anything to score," McPhee said. "There are all kinds of different ways, and he'll be able to play a long time and score goals because he can sit in his office there on the power play and score goals until he's 40. Nobody is gonna be able to stop that." 

It's 2018 and the Capitals finally made it out of the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1998. They defeated their postseason nemesis, the Pittsburgh Penguins, eliminated the heavy favorites, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and they're playing another McPhee-built team in the Vegas Golden Knights.

Marc-Andre Fleury makes a spectacular save on John Carlson at the start of the third period in Game 3. But then he loses his net trying to contain the rebound, and it starts a scramble. Ovechkin, falling over once again, swipes a rebound past an outstretched Fleury.

We all know what happened next: The Caps won that game 3-1 and won the next two to win the Stanley Cup.

It kicked off an epic celebration in the nation's capital. Who can forget Ovechkin swimming with the Stanley Cup at the Georgetown Fountain?

It secured his legacy after years of brutal postseason losses. Throughout the Ovi era, Washington always looked the part of a juggernaut. The Capitals won the President's Trophy in 2010, 2016 and 2017, but the early playoff exits naturally led to questions about Ovechkin's leadership.

"With a loss comes finger-pointing and trying to figure out where the issues are. And of course, all the players that are at the top have that much more responsibility," Alzner said.

"And I think they feel the pressure a little bit more to so I'm not sure how he felt. But I know that everybody is thinking to themselves, 'We have all these great players here. How come we're not getting to that next level? Like what's the issue?'"

But those close to the team say the leadership was never the issue. McPhee still lauds the way he absorbed the criticism in an effort to keep the heat off of his teammates. The organization went through several changes.

McPhee was replaced by his childhood friend and Bowling Green teammate Brian MacLellan in 2014. Ovechkin played for four head coaches in his first decade in the league and has played for three others since winning the Stanley Cup.

An unconventional player on the ice, his leadership is described as that as well. It doesn't work for everyone, but it's worked in Washington.

"He's extremely unique. You know, I think when you grow up, and everyone's like, 'This is what a leader needs to look like, this is what a leader is, this is what a normal leader looks like.' I don't think that's a picture of O standing there," Capitals forward Tom Wilson said.

"Like, he's one of the most unique guys. If you haven't spent time with him, there's just no way to describe him. I think he's one of the best teammates. He has a ton of fun, and he wants to win, but I think for him, there's time to be enjoying the game and be at the rink and having fun. But when he gets on the ice, he just wants to win. And that brings everybody in.

"So I mean, he has this way of making everybody around them feel extremely comfortable. There are guys that come here, and they change their careers. Like, their career is in a dive, they come here, they hang out with O, and their careers are reborn."

In some ways, Ovechkin, who was recently named an All-Star for the 12th time but will not participate in the game because of a positive COVID-19 test, is a different person than he was when he entered the league. 

He married Russian actress and film producer Anastasia Shubskaya in 2017. The couple now has two sons, Sergei—named after his late older brother who would take him to hockey practices and games growing up in Moscow—and Ilya.

Sergei is now three and is a presence around practices, playing with his mini sticks and taking shots on the same ice as his dad. Ilya will be two this year, and his father is confident he will like hockey as well.

But in other ways, he's exactly the same, scoring on those deadly one-timers and playing with infectious, childlike enthusiasm. Winning another Stanley Cup remains the priority, but as he closes in on Gretzky's record, the chase becomes impossible to ignore.

"I don't think anybody could ever imagine that he's doing this, although I know I said something years ago on a podcast," McPhee said. "In an interview, I said that he's a guy that could break Gretzky's record. And, and lo and behold, he's here."