The 19-year journey, now nearing its final stages, hasn’t been without its bumps in the road. Ovechkin recently discussed some of the challenges he’s faced during a Russian-language interview on Podcasts with Amiran Sardarov. The interview was then transcribed by sports.ru.

“If there had been no lockout and no pandemic, I think Gretzky’s record would have been broken by now,” Ovechkin told Sardarov and via a translation by Google Translate. “But, unfortunately, such moments happen.”

Ovechkin has been a bastion of health throughout his nearly two decades in the NHL, missing just 59 total games in his career and only 35 of those games due to injury. However, he has lost another potential 155 games due to two separate league lockouts (2004-05, 2012-13) and the COVID-19 pandemic.

If Ovechkin scored at his current career goals-per-game rate (.60) over those 155 games, The Great Eight would have another 92 goals on his ledger, giving him 945 in his career.

Some believe Ovechkin would have stayed in Russia even if the NHL had played its 2004-05 campaign. Even then, if you subtract those 82 potential games, he’d still have already eclipsed Gretzky with 43 additional goals over the remaining 73 games and have 896 total.

Overall, Ovechkin still has his main sights set on a team goal he has long said is more important to him than any individual accolade.

“I want to win the Stanley Cup again,” Ovechkin said. “Words cannot describe the emotions and pleasure that we, our friends, family, and fans received.”