The Russian is targeting the all-time NHL goals record
‘The Great Eight’ is hunting history in North America. © AP Photo / Matt Slocum
The Washington Capitals won’t undergo major changes while Alexander Ovechkin pursues the NHL’s goalscoring record, owner Ted Leonsis has vowed.
Russian star Ovechkin, 37, is currently third on the NHL all-time list on 797 goals – just four behind Canadian great Gordie Howe in second spot. Beyond that is record-holder Wayne Gretzky on 894 goals.
Ovechkin penned a five-year extension with the Capitals in the summer of 2021, meaning he is set to hunt the goals record at the team where he has spent his entire NHL career.
But with the Washington roster poised for an overhaul next season, and following an indifferent start to the current campaign, talk has shifted to what any potential changes could mean for the team’s Russian leader.
Leonsis, however, has revealed he has an agreement with Ovechkin that there will not be the kind of wholesale rebuild seen in years gone by.
“I’m sure there’ll be an influx of some young players, but we’re not going to rebuild the team,” Leonsis said this week, as quoted by ESPN.
“To me, a rebuild is when you look the players, the coaches, the fans in the eye and say, ‘We’re going to be really, really bad’. And if we were really, really bad, I don’t think Alex would break the record.”
The Capitals owner said Ovechkin wanted to go about his chase for the all-time NHL goals record “the right way.”
According to Leonsis, the Russian had asked for guarantees that the team would remain competitive, and in return had promised “to come in shape all the time and not be fixated on the record, but be fixated on winning another Stanley Cup.”
Ovechkin captained Washington to Stanley Cup glory in 2018, but since then the team has not been in major contention for a repeat title.
This season the Capitals are currently outside a playoff place, although they are on a run of four straight wins.
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Leonsis said that despite Ovechkin pursuing Gretzky’s record, the Russian star and the retired Canadian icon “have a friendship.”
“Wayne knows that Alex is legit,” said the Caps owner, adding that Gretzky had promised to attend all the team’s games in the event that Ovechkin gets “within sight” of his landmark.
Ovechkin has 17 goals and 13 assists to his name in the current season, and was on target as the Caps defeated the Winnipeg Jets in their last outing.
Next up for Washington is a trip to Chicago to face Central Division stragglers the Blackhawks on Tuesday night.
