Ovechkin will break all-time NHL goals record, Jagr says

Jaromir Jagr has watched Alex Ovechkin from the Czech Republic this season and concluded this about the Washington Capitals forward's climb up the NHL goals list.

"He cannot be stopped if he doesn't want to," Jagr told NHL.com in February.
With 34 goals in 54 games this season, Ovechkin has increased his career total to 764 to move within two of Jagr for third in NHL history heading into Washington's game against at the Calgary Flames on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, NBCSWA, ESPN+, NHL LIVE).
Jagr scored 766 goals in 24 NHL seasons before returning in 2018 to Kladno, the team the 50-year-old owns and still plays for in the Extraliga, the top professional league in Czechia. After passing Jagr, Ovechkin would trail only Gordie Howe, who is second with 801 goals, and Wayne Gretzky with 894.

Ovechkin has moved up from sixth to fourth in goals this season by passing Marcel Dionne (731) and Brett Hull (741). Jagr said he believes it's inevitable that Ovechkin will eventually pass Howe too and then overtake Gretzky as the NHL record holder.
"I said that before," Jagr said. "He's got a five-year contract that he signed. I think he's going to do it before that."
Ovechkin acknowledged that chasing Gretzky's goal record factored into the term of his contract when he signed it July 27, 2021. But the 36-year-old isn't looking beyond passing Jagr yet.
When he does, the native of Moscow, Russia will become the NHL leader in goals among players born outside North America. (Howe and Gretzky were born in Canada.)
"Yeah, it will be great," Ovechkin said. "I'm going to be No. 1 of all the European players who played in the NHL. So it's going be a big milestone, a big number."
Growing up, Ovechkin followed Mario Lemieux, who was one of his favorite players, but couldn't help noticing his Pittsburgh Penguins running mate. Jagr entered the NHL as an 18-year-old in 1990 and teamed with Lemieux to help Pittsburgh win the Stanley Cup in each of his first two seasons.
The flashy forward with the mullet became one of the NHL's brightest stars and personalities, using his world-class skill, 6-foot-3, 230-pound frame and long reach to protect the puck and score before celebrating with an emphatic salute.
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In addition to being third in goals, Jagr is first in NHL history in game-winning goals (135), second in points (1,921), fourth in games played (1,733) and fifth in assists (1,155). By the time Jagr returned to Kladno, he'd played for nine NHL teams: the Penguins, Capitals, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils, Florida Panthers and Calgary Flames.
"I think he was great for the game," Ovechkin said. "He was passionate about it and it's fun when we talk about hockey how he's always tried to figure out how he can be better."
That's a quality Ovechkin and Jagr have in common. After Ovechkin dropped to 33 goals in 2016-17 (his career-low in a full NHL season) following three-straight 50-goal seasons, he started working with a personal trainer and changed his offseason regimen to focus more on quickness.
He rebounded to score an NHL-high 49 goals in 2017-18 on his way to leading Capitals to the Stanley Cup for the first time. Ovechkin led the NHL in goals the next two seasons and is bidding to do it again this season for the 10th time in his career, trailing Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews (39 goals) by five. No other player has led the NHL in goals more than seven times.
Ovechkin also is on pace to score 49 goals this season and is trying to match the NHL record of nine 50-goal seasons shared by Gretzky and Mike Bossy.
"He didn't look very sharp in that year, maybe two years, but he recovered very well from then," Jagr said. "He kind of adjusted his style and he got back on pace again to score 50 a season. … The game has changed a lot and it's for his good because he can keep up with the speed. He can keep up with the speed easily. He's got a great shot.
"But a huge advantage for him is nobody, I mean nobody, is as strong as him."
Jagr was one of the NHL' strongest players too, but Ovechkin has utilized his strength and size (6-3, 238) in different ways, as evidenced by his 3,228 hits, which are fourth in the NHL since the League started tracking the statistic his rookie season of 2005-06.
Jagr was credited with 187 hits in 706 games after the League began tracking them, but he was on the receiving end of a memorable open ice hit from Ovechkin during a preliminary round game between the Czech Republic and Russia at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Even with that physicality, Ovechkin has been remarkably durable, playing in 1,252 of Washington's 1,296 games (96.6 percent) during his 17 NHL seasons. That's another reason why Jagr believes it's only a matter of time before Ovechkin breaks Gretzky's record.
"Only one thing can stop him: injuries," Jagr said. "But it would have to be some accident or something because the way he's fit and strong, he cannot get injured if just somebody hits him."

Although Jagr is third in goals, he views himself as more of a playmaker. He led the NHL in assists three times (1997-98, 1998-99, 2000-01).
Still, a three-season sabbatical in the Kontinental Hockey League with Omsk (2008-11) likely cost Jagr a chance to pass Howe for second in goals and possibly make a run at Gretzky. But Jagr credits his KHL stint with helping him recharge physically and mentally before returning to the NHL with Philadelphia in 2011 and playing seven more seasons in the League.
The goal record was never his focus.
"I never looked for the goals to pass Wayne Gretzky," Jagr said. "I never did because I never considered myself as a goal-scorer. My goal when I came back was to hit 2,000 points because I was more a playmaker than goal-scorer. It just didn't happen, but I know that if I didn't go to Russia, it probably would've happened."
Ovechkin valued playing against Jagr for three seasons before he left for the KHL and after he returned. According to NHL Stats, Ovechkin and Jagr faced each other in 28 regular-season games (but none in the Stanley Cup Playoffs) with Ovechkin scoring 25 points (17 goals, eight assists) and Jagr scoring 22 (six goals, 16 assists).
Ovechkin said he watched Jagr closely during those encounters.
"You pay attention to the small details, what he'd do on the ice," Ovechkin said. "He always was dangerous when he had the puck, especially in the offensive zone."
To Ovechkin, what made Jagr special was, "just talent."
"And he loves hockey," Ovechkin said.
That love is something else that Jagr and Ovechkin share.
"He does show it a lot more than me," Jagr said. "He's excited every goal he scores. He's also excited when any teammate when he's on the ice scores. So it's not about him personally. He's just happy to play hockey. That's the other part that cannot be matched."