Alex Ovechkin is six games into the 2025-26 campaign and, after scoring his first goal of the season against the Minnesota Wild, is just two goals shy of becoming the first player in NHL history to reach 900 career goals.
While the NHL went all out to celebrate Ovechkin breaking Wayne Gretzky’s goal record last season, including pausing the April 6 game in New York for a ceremony much longer than seven minutes, the league reportedly has no specific plans to celebrate Ovechkin’s next big accolade.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly recently spoke to Championat’s Vladimir Laevsky about Ovechkin and the legendary winger’s importance to the NHL. During the conversation, Laevsky brought up the potential of another league-conducted ceremony.
Daly, while still recognizing Ovechkin’s greatness, left any celebration plans up to the Washington Capitals.
“Celebrations for such milestones are usually organized by the clubs, not the league,” Daly said, as translated via Google Translate. “We are usually invited to take part in the ceremony.
“Alex has been a world-class player in our league for 20 years now,” Daly added. “Equally important, he’s a fantastic ambassador for his beloved sport. The achievements Ovi has achieved in his career certainly put him on par with the NHL’s (most) outstanding players.”
Ovechkin will attempt to reach the 900 mark against the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night. While he has never had a multi-goal game against the Kraken, he did score in both games against them last season. In eight career games against Seattle, Ovechkin has recorded 11 points (5g, 6a).
The Great 8 is also just three games shy of becoming the 24th player in NHL history to play in 1,500 career games. He’s set to hit that mark against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.