Ovechkin: 700

On Saturday February 22^nd, 2020, Alex Ovechkin became the eighth player in NHL history to record 700 goals. He now has 701. Ovechkin became the second fastest player to reach the 700 goal milestone, netting his 700^th in game number 1,144. The only NHL star to do it faster was Wayne Gretzky in 886. Ovechkin also became the second youngest to accomplish the feat, again behind only Gretzky at age 29.


The 700 Goal Club now has eight members, ranked below by their number of goals scored.

1. Wayne Gretzky (894)
2. Gordie Howe (801)
3. Jaromir Jagr (766)
4. Brett Hull (741)
5. Marcel Dionne (731)
6. Phil Esposito (717)
7. Mike Gartner (708)
8. Ovechkin (701)
   

Howe- Howe is the only other member of the 800 goal club in the NHL. Like Ovechkin, Howe is the only NHL player to reach 700 goals with their original club. Reaching the feat in 1968, Howe was the first player in NHL history to reach 700.


Esposito- Esposito was the second player to record 700 goals and did so in the third period of a game against the Washington Capitals in 1980 whilst a member of the New York Rangers. 


Dionne- In 1987, Dionne became the third player to score his 700^th NHL goal. The goal came with 33 seconds to go in an 8-2 loss to the New York Islanders, also playing for the New York Rangers. 


Gretzky- The leading NHL goal-scorer of all time, Gretzky became the fourth to record 700 NHL goals. Throughout his time in the NHL, Gretzky has a PPG average of 1.92, an incredible 2857 points and a +520 rating. WOW! Gretzky recorded his 700^th in a 6-3 win over the New York Islanders in 1991 and went on to record a staggering 894 in total before retiring. Ovechkin has been climbing the NHL all-time goal chart, but the question remains, will he pass Gretzky?


Gartner- Gartner scored his 700^th in a 3-3 tie against the Detroit Red Wings in 1997. Gartner played for the Capitals, North Stars, Rangers and Leafs before scoring goal 700 as a member of the Phoenix Coyotes.


Hull- In 2003, Brett Hull scored his 700^th in a contest against the San Jose Sharks. The then Detroit Red Wing had played for Calgary, St Louis and Dallas before getting the goal. Hull had been a member of St Louis for 11 seasons and has the most goals in franchise history at 527. This is not the only category he leads for the Blues as Hull still ranks first in hat tricks and powerplay goals, to name a few.


Jagr- Jagr became the 7^th member of the 700 goal club in 2014 in a 6-1 win over the New York Islanders. Jagr made his NHL debut in 1990 and at age 48 still continues to play professional hockey, this season for Kladno of the Czech league.



8 facts about the ‘Great 8’:

1. The ‘Great 8’ became the eighth player in NHL history to reach 700 goals.
2. The ‘Great 8’ has the eighth most hat tricks in NHL history.
3. Ovechkin has 8 50 goal seasons to date.
4. He has the most points by a Russian-born player in NHL history, passing Federov in February 2019.
5. Ovechkin’s favourite team growing up was the San Jose Sharks and his favourite player was Owen Nolan (who was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland!)
6. In 2003, the Florida Panthers attempted to draft Ovechkin who was just too young to be drafted. They claimed that if leap years were excluded, his age would be before the cut off.
7. Ovechkin was drafted in 2004, 1^st overall by the Washington Capitals, but the 2004/05 NHL lockout meant he could not make his debut until 2005/06.
8. Ovechkin has won a number of awards and trophies throughout his career but in 2018 added a Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe trophy to his list of achievements.