Ovechkin says joining Howe in 800-goal club would be 'pretty special'

CHICAGO -- As Alex Ovechkin has climbed the NHL goals lists, eclipsing the 500-, 600- and 700-goal milestones and some of the greatest scorers in the history of the game, the Washington Capitals forward has humbly appreciated each step, but has rarely been stopped in his tracks by the magnitude of what he's accomplished.

Until recently.
Ovechkin understands he is in rarified air while he closes in on joining
Gordie Howe
and
Wayne Gretzky
as the only players to score 800 NHL goals. The 37-year-old was three away with 797 goals heading into Washington's game against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Tuesday.
Ovechkin's first goal after 800 will tie him with Howe for second in NHL history with 801.
When he passes Howe with his 802nd, only Gretzky will remain ahead of him 894.
Ovechkin career timeline: [NHL Draft to approaching 800 goals]
"I don't try to concentrate on the numbers, but obviously we're getting closer, and, of course, there is going to be more talk, more attention to it," Ovechkin told NHL.com last week. "But to be in this company is going to be a pretty special moment for me, for my family, for all the team."
Ovechkin stifled a laugh when asked what he would've thought if someone told him before his NHL debut in 2005 that, 18 seasons later, he'd be contemplating reaching 800 goals. Laughing is understandable, though.
Scoring 800 goals and being on verge of passing Howe is, as Capitals defenseman John Carlson put it, "pretty [expletive] crazy."
"It is," Ovechkin acknowledged. "If you look at all the numbers, all the names, it's pretty cool."
Ovechkin has already left some of the biggest names in game in his wake. In the past two calendar years alone, he's passed Mike Gartner (708), Phil Esposito (717), Marcel Dionne (731), Brett Hull (741) and Jaromir Jagr (766) to jump from eighth to third in goals.
Scoring his 767th goal to pass Jagr against the New York Islanders on March 15 had added meaning for Ovechkin because it made him the leading NHL goal-scorer among European players. Still, though Ovechkin knew little about Howe growing up in Moscow, he's well aware now of the significance of being spoken about in the same breath as him.
"Obviously, he's Mr. Hockey, but when you're growing up, we didn't have internet," Ovechkin said. "It was hard for us to understand how big of a name it is. But as soon as you came here, you just hear stories about Gordie Howe almost every day because he is legendary and his status as a player. Obviously, he was the best player out there."
Howe last played in the NHL in 1979-80 (when he was 52 years old) after 26 seasons in the League - 25 with the Detroit Red Wings and one with the Hartford Whalers -- and died in 2016 when he was 88. But the mere mention of him continues to inspire awe around the NHL, as does what Ovechkin is about to achieve.
"Gordie Howe, just say his name and you know what it means to the game of hockey, and he's about to pass him," Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid said. "It's a credit to him and a credit to everything that he's done and accomplished. A pretty amazing feat."

Ovechkin met Howe at the 2009 NHL All-Star Game at Bell Centre in Montreal. Ovechkin vaguely recalls them chatting about, "how sticks are different right now." A signed photo of them together in the locker room is one of Ovechkin's prized possessions.
"It was a great memory," Ovechkin said. "I still have the picture. He signed it for me. It's probably one of the greatest things to happen in my life getting meet those legends and those players."
Photos are nice. So are the pucks from his milestone goals, which Ovechkin also collects. But, as Ovechkin said before scoring his 797th goal against Winnipeg Jets on Sunday, "I like sticks."
Since the start of last season, he has set aside the puck and stick from each goal he's scored as he gradually closes in on Gretzky's record. Ovechkin extensive collection, stored for now in his Virginia home, also includes signed sticks from, among many others, Mario Lemieux, Hull and Gretzky, who promised him a game-used one if the Capitals won the Stanley Cup (and delivered after they won in 2018).
Ovechkin doesn't have a stick from Howe, though.
"Not yet," Ovechkin said. "I hope. I will ask Mark."
Ovechkin met Mark Howe, Gordie's son who played 16 NHL seasons before retiring in 1995, when the Capitals visited the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Nov. 3. Ovechkin scored his 786th goal with the Capitals that night to tie Gordie for the most NHL goals with one team.

Ovechkin broke that record two nights later by scoring No. 787 against the Arizona Coyotes. Mark Howe wanted Ovechkin to know he has the support of the Howe family in his bid to surpass his father's goal total and, eventually, Gretzky's.
"If it was me, someone coming down to talk with you, that means a lot more than just a simple (congratulatory) video shot," Mark Howe said. "So I thought it was very important for Alex, not for me but for Alex, to know that. And I said that the Howe family, and I'm speaking on Gordie's behalf, 'We are rooting for you.' If Gordie was here, he'd be rooting for him, too."
Ovechkin plans to open a museum in Moscow featuring all his memorabilia and eventually pass the collection onto his sons, Sergei, 4, and Ilya, 2. Ovechkin said his wife, Nastya, and their sons might travel so they can be wherever he is when he reaches 800 goals and passes Howe, but that might not be necessary with the Capitals playing three consecutive home games after they visit Chicago.
His father, Mikhail, mother, Tatyana and brother, Mikhail will be watching from back home in Russia.
Although Ilya is too young to understand the history his father is approaching, Ovechkin said Sergei does.
"He knows everything," Ovechkin said proudly. "He knows who we're going to play against, he knows the players, so he's into it."
Still, it wasn't that long ago that scoring 800 goals, passing Howe and pursuing Gretzky's record were concepts too abstract for many, including Ovechkin, to grasp. But as Ovechkin has continued to score at a high pace into what should be the later stages of his career, tying the League record shared by Gretzky and Mike Bossy with his ninth 50-goal season last season, what was once thought of as highly unlikely appears attainable.
With 17 goals in Washington's first 30 games, Ovechkin is on pace to score 46 goals this season.
"I mean, he's obviously an unbelievable player, but the consistency with which he scored at is just second to none," Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane said. "Seems like every time you're looking at the box score, he's finding a way to score another one. It's impressive. Even his down years, he was still scoring 32, 38 you know? Pretty impressive. You don't really see anything slowing him down."
These days, Ovechkin seems to rewrite the NHL record book with almost every goal he scores. In addition to passing Howe for most NHL goals with one team this season, Ovechkin tied and passed Gretzky's League mark for road goals by scoring his 402nd and 403rd in a 5-1 victory at the Vancouver Canucks on Nov. 29.
Breaking those two particular records, perhaps because they previously belonged to Howe and Gretzky, appeared to have a more noticeable impact on Ovechkin to those who watch him every day.
"You know, there's been a lot of times, not many recently, but a lot of times over the last couple of years where he's climbed the board and I think he was excited about it, but I think he had his sights on higher things," Capitals forward T.J. Oshie said. "Recently, all these other things that he's hitting, I think are super, super important to him and I think he's super proud, whether he tries to hold it in or not."
For the moment, Ovechkin's focus is on 800 goals and passing Howe. Knowing he's 97 goals behind Gretzky, he continues to downplay his chances of catching him.
"It's still far away," Ovechkin said. "Obviously, if there wasn't a lockout (in 2012-13), there wasn't a pandemic, maybe I would be closer right now, but it is what it is. I'm going to try to do my best to get closer to that.
"If I will make it, I will make it. If not, I think it's pretty big number as well."
But as Mark Howe noted, Ovechkin doesn't seem like the kind to settle for second place.
"Passing Gordie is going to be one thing," Mark said. "But for Ovi, the crowning moment is going to be when he catches Wayne."