From Russia, with joy
It took Alexander Ovechkin 40 seconds to change the National Hockey League.
As the rookie stepped onto the ice for his first-ever shift in 2005, he was stepping into an unflattering stereotype about Russian players. They were talented – but bloodless and austere, lacking the passion to lead a team to the Stanley Cup.
Then Mr. Ovechkin hit a defender so hard, he knocked out the stanchion holding the plexiglass.
By the end of the night, he had scored two goals on his way to 52 that season, the third-most-ever for a rookie.
On Sunday, the Washington Capitals’ Mr. Ovechkin added the 895th of his career, breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record for the most regular season goals in NHL history. The achievement is astonishing. The path to 900 goals means scoring an average of 45 goals a year for 20 years. Not once did Mr. Gretzky do that after age 30. Mr. Ovechkin has done it five times.
Ask acquaintances how he has done it, and they point to undiminished joy. “When he was younger, the joy, you know, carried him,” former teammate Mike Knuble told The Hockey News. “And eventually, you get older, and maybe that settles out a little bit, but still, he plays [with joy]. It’s amazing.”
Former coach Barry Trotz said Mr. Ovechkin’s guileless love for the game meant he could take hard coaching and not be offended. “That’s very, very unique,” he told The Athletic. “You could challenge him, and he’d go, ‘Yeah, you’re right, and I’ll get it done.’”
“He’s very humble and very generous,” linemate Dylan Strome told The Hockey News.
He also likes to have fun. He has raced equipment carts through the stadium, swum in fountains after winning the Stanley Cup, and routinely ordered sundaes to his hotel room after games. It’s a spirit that lifts his teammates. Last offseason, the Washington Capitals signed several players seen as washed-up or underachieving. The Capitals are now in first place. “You see a lot of guys come here and their careers get revamped,” teammate Tom Wilson told The Athletic. “They find their groove again, they’re comfortable, they like it. And that starts with Ovi.”
From the moment Mr. Ovechkin arrived in the league, so many goals – by him and by his teammates – have been celebrated with childlike glee. He celebrated No. 895 with a belly flop on the ice. One person on the social media platform X commented, “Pure joy.”
