The start of the National Hockey League season is the 20th in the career of Alexander Ovechkin. The Washington forward had a productive preseason and is ready to continue his pursuit of the title of best sniper in history. Three-time Stanley Cup winner Sidney Crosby and last season’s Rookie of the Year Connor Bedard wished him luck in achieving this historic goal.
Alexander Ovechkin is preparing to begin his 20th season in the National Hockey League. Last week, the Russian Washington forward celebrated another anniversary of his debut overseas, which took place on October 5, 2005. It is noteworthy that for the Capitals, the upcoming championship will be an anniversary one – the 50th in the history of the club.
Of course, one of the main topics in this regard will be the captain’s pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s so-called eternal record. To catch up with the legendary Canadian, Ovechkin needs to score 41 more goals, and to surpass him – one more. Now he has 853 goals.
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Washington began preseason ice training in mid-September, and on the very first day, disturbing news came from the team: Ovechkin left the session early after warming up. Fortunately, nothing serious happened. As the team’s head coach, Spencer Carbery, later explained, Alexander received a minor injury during off-season training, so the staff decided not to take risks and not burden him with monotonous work from the very first day.
It is logical that the hockey player did not take part in the first preseason match with Philadelphia. In general, the Capitals captain took to the ice in three of the six preparatory games, in which he scored two points. In the game with New Jersey, he took part in the scoring sequence, which was completed by Dylan Strome, and then he scored against Columbus.
A funny episode involving the Russian forward occurred in the game with Boston: Ovechkin shot so powerfully at goal that he knocked the helmet off the opposing goalkeeper Brandon Bussey. Afterwards, reporters asked Capitals rookie Logan Thompson if he had ever experienced Ovi’s throwing power in practice, but he laughed and said that he tries not to get in the way of the puck in such cases. However, according to the Russian himself, goals do not come as easy to him as before.
“Every year it gets more and more difficult to score. Teams have different playing styles. Just like goalkeepers. So we’ll just try to do everything we can to score goals, win games and so on,” Alexander said.
Washington coach Carbery has a difficult task this season – to find the optimal combinations of players in the team, which was added seven new hockey players in the offseason, and to create favorable conditions for his main star so that he continues to replenish his sniper account. Both in training and in matches, the number eight team played with Strome and Andrew Mangiapane. In addition, the captain remains in the majority special brigade.
Of course, an epoch-making event – a new league record for the number of goals – awaits not only Ovechkin himself, but also his partners and even rivals. In particular, Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby wished good luck to the Russian.
“This is very cool. What he does is incredible. I’m very grateful to be a part of this. As a player, you want to compete at the highest level, and throughout our years-long rivalry, hopefully we push each other to be our best. I would like to believe that we both still have the strength for several successful seasons,” said the Penguins veteran.
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The new generation of hockey players, who will replace the current stars and shine in the NHL in the coming years, are also watching with bated breath the pursuit of the Washington striker.
“Ever since I started watching hockey, he has been one of the most outstanding players. Every year he seems to find a way to put pucks in the net. I think a little more and he will break this record,” said, in particular, last season’s Calder Trophy winner Connor Bedard.
Experts give different forecasts for exactly when Ovechkin will reach his goal – this season or next. Thus, Sportsnet calculated that he needs 105 matches for 42 goals. And in order to cope in one regular season, you need to follow the schedule of “one goal in every second match.” Considering the forward has accomplished this in 13 of his 19 seasons in the league, the goal doesn’t seem entirely out of reach.
According to former Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau, under whom the Russian had his best regular season (65 goals and 112 points in 2007/08), Alexander is now in excellent shape, in addition, he recalled the character of the Russian, for whom in his career nothing was ever impossible. However, the specialist noted that it would be more profitable for the club to “postpone” achieving the record for a year. This way they will be able to sell more season tickets for home matches, as everyone will want to see the long-awaited historical moment.
Meanwhile, the other day information appeared in the media that Ovechkin became the highest paid player in the NHL. During his career, he earned $149.2 million. In second place is Crosby with $144.3 million, and Evgeni Malkin closes the top three with $132.3 million. In this regard, the Capitals forward recalled that at least half of the money earned from him collect taxes. “You always divide what they write about me by two,” Match TV quotes Ovechkin as saying.
Source: russian.rt.com
