#alex-ovechkin

#alex-ovechkin

Alex Ovechkin is the greatest goal scorer in NHL history and one of the league's all-time greatest players. The 40-year-old legendary winger would seemingly have every reason to become aloof and withdrawn from his teammates, but he has done the complete opposite and continued to foster a winning environment with the Washington Capitals. Bruce Boudreau, who coached a much younger Ovechkin for parts of five seasons with the Capitals (2007-2012), has seen firsthand the impact The Great 8 has had on the club's culture.

Upper Deck, the NHL's exclusive trading card partner, is putting out their most expensive, premium card box of the year, "2024-25 The Cup," on Wednesday. In this year's product, several of hockey's most legendary players will have one-of-one Exquisite patch autographs scattered throughout the thousands of boxes produced, and Ovechkin's, in particular, is super special.

It's safe to say Alex Ovechkin is back to being Alex Ovechkin after a slow start to the season, where he scored just three goals in his first 15 games. Ovechkin has 9 goals in his last 11 outings and found the back of the net again Sunday against the New York Islanders. The Capitals captain scored an empty-net goal with 31 seconds remaining in the game, skating through an Adam Pelech poke-check for his 909th career goal.

Montreal Canadiens winger Josh Anderson is one of the most sandpapery players in the NHL. During the playoffs, he irritated Tom Wilson so much that the ice couldn't contain the pair's brawl, and the two power forwards tried to fight each other on the Capitals bench as a referee hung on for dear life. In the Capitals and Candiens' first meeting of the 2025-26 regular season, Anderson may have bit off more than he could chew with Alex Ovechkin,

Frank's first point of the night came on his first career power-play goal and his first goal of the season. Taking a pass from Alex Ovechkin as he skated into the slot, Frank ripped a shot past Sam Montembeault's glove, giving the Capitals a 2-1 lead 2:00 into the second period. "That first goal on the power play, that's a huge play," Caps head coach Spencer Carbery said postgame.

Ovechkin officially leaped over Joe Sakic (625g-1,016a-1,641p in 1,378 GP) for 10th all-time when he recorded his 1,642nd point (906g and 736a in 1,512 GP) on his second goal in the game. He would add one more to his total with an empty-net goal that completed his 33rd career hat trick, finishing the night with 1,643 career points. Ovechkin got the point to topple Sakic with just 3:57 remaining in regulation, firing home a fantastic feed from center Dylan Strome.

In the season opener two days earlier, Ovechkin kicked things off with a bang, scoring three of his team's four goals and added a shootout tally in the team's 5-4 shootout win in Ottawa. Returning to DC for the season's home opener against the Canadiens, he then proceeded to score just 20 seconds into the opening frame...and then twice more before the first period came to an end. A fourth goal in the second period rounded out his scoring for the evening en route to a dominant 6-1 win.

"Yeah. I grew up there. I played for Dynamo," Ovechkin said. "Of course, I want to play maybe one or two games. We'll see. You never know what's going to happen, right? Right now, I'm here and I'm enjoying my days here. We'll see."

Though Ovechkin didn't shoot in the first three rounds of the skills competition, Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery sent him over the boards as the team's fourth shooter. That choice proved the deciding moment of the game: after Devils goaltender Jake Allen stopped Ovechkin's attempt, Simon Nemec snuck the puck past Logan Thompson for the win. Carbery told reporters postgame that Ovechkin's strong third period convinced him to give him a chance to shoot.

Ovechkin in his prime had - and still has - the ability to make a mundane game into something special. And what was special about this one was that it was kind of a classic Ovechkin game, featuring lots of chances (five shots on goal, several pipes, and a missed penalty shot). Basically the type of game where you know he's just circling like a shark, waiting to strike...and when he did finally strike, it was something special:

During Ovechkin's 895th goal celebration, Gretzky told the Capitals captain on the ice at UBS Arena, "It's the best thing to ever happen for hockey. Keep going. Get to 900. You get to 900, I might buy your car." Gretzky laughed at the trip down memory lane. "The owner said he couldn't buy him a car, so I was trying to pump him up to get there quickly," Gretzky quipped.

The two would go on to play 17 seasons together, the majority of which were spent as linemates. Backstrom's 279 assists on Ovechkin's 901 career goals are the most of any player, and no other Capitals teammate has even hit the 200 mark. The two star forwards grew very close as they grew up together on the Capitals, with Backstrom even following Ovechkin to Dynamo Moscow in the KHL during the 2012-13 NHL lockout.

I was kind of a Caps fan ever since. I just love the colors, love the eagle, everything about it. And I even remember back in 2018 when they won the Cup, I was overjoyed. And I was super happy to see them get one.

"Hey, Beau. Those f***ers REALLY don't want you, but you know what?" Ovechkin said before breaking into song. "We want you baby, la la la la la la, I need you baby, la la la la la la." "There's too many teams that don't want me," Beauvillier cracked. "Huh?" Ovechkin said "Too many teams that don't want me," Beauvillier replied. "Well, you know what?" Ovechkin said. "We want you..." The two broke into laughter.