Longtime linemate Nicklas Backstrom conservatively predicted Ovechkin will score 35 this season.
"But I'm putting it low," the Capitals center said. "So hopefully it's over that."
Ovechkin has scored 706 goals in 1,152 regular-season games, all with the Capitals, who selected him with the No. 1 pick in the 2004 NHL Draft. He scored his 700th goal against the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 22, 2020 to become the eighth player in NHL history to reach the milestone, joining Gartner, Esposito, Dionne, Hull, Jaromir Jagr (766) Gordie Howe (801) and Gretzky (894).
Gartner, a 2001 Hockey Hall of Fame inductee, scored 708 goals in 1,432 regular-season games over 19 NHL seasons before retiring in 1998. He figured Ovechkin was going to fly past him last season and quickly move on to chasing 800. After that milestone, Gretzky's record will be within his sights.
"Without a doubt, Alex has all of the tools to make that happen," Gartner said. "Some guys you say, 'That guy is scoring a lot of goals, but he is going to slow down.' … Every athlete will always slow down near the end of their careers, we all know that, and it will for him, too. It just doesn't seem like it's going to happen right yet.
"So he's going to pack a whole bunch more goals on there before that time comes."
Wondering when age will catch up to Ovechkin has proved to be a futile endeavor. Some thought his downslide started when he scored 33 goals in 2016-17, his fewest in a full NHL season. But Ovechkin rebounded to lead the NHL the next two seasons with 49 goals in 2017-18, 51 in 2018-19 before tying Pastrnak last season. He's scored 148 goals the past three seasons combined, 27 more than Pastrnak for most in the NHL over that span.
The more immediate question is how much longer Ovechkin plans to continue playing with his contract set to expire after this season. He and the Capitals have yet to begin negotiating a contract, but they plan to during the season.
"Everybody has down times. He's not exempt to that," NBC Sports analyst and former NHL forward Eddie Olczyk said. "But he's obviously been as consistent as anybody we've had in the League. … It's hard not to look at him and a guy like Mike Bossy back in the day, [Gartner] or somebody like that who just score 30, 35, 40 goals every season. Ovi is obviously at another level and Mike Bossy (too).
"But Ovi has been super consistent and still loves to score, and I think everybody still loves to watch him put that puck in the back of the net."
