Alex Ovechkin scores goal No. 900: How high can the Capitals star climb in his legendary NHL career?

After breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time record last season, Washington Capitals legend Alex Ovechkin is now the inaugural member of the NHL’s 900-goal club. Ovechkin reached No. 900 with his tally in the second period against the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night.

Throughout his career, Ovechkin has scored goals in a variety of ways, and his 900th might have been one of the most unique. After a Jakob Chychrun shot bounced off the end board, Ovechkin scooped up the puck and snuck a spin-o-rama backhand past a sprawling Jordan Binnington.

It was another historic moment for Ovechkin, and Binnington tried to keep a piece of history all to himself. While the Capitals were mobbing Ovechkin, Binnington managed to sneak the puck into his pants, thinking no one would notice.

Was Binnington going to flip it on eBay for a little extra cash? Was he going to keep it on his mantle? Maybe Binnington was simply going to chuck it in the garbage out of spite. Whatever plans Binnington had, they were spoiled when a linesman skated by and made him retrieve the puck.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2004 NHL Draft, Ovechkin has been climbing the record books at a rapid pace since his rookie campaign in 2005-06. Ovechkin has hit the 40-goal mark 14 times, and he’s surpassed 50 goals on nine different occasions. Ovechkin has won the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal-scorer nine times, far and away the most in NHL history.

Last year, Ovechkin finally surpassed Gretzky with his 895th goal and entered the 2025-26 season with 897 under his belt. After a somewhat slow start, at least by his standards, Ovechkin has earned another distinction with goal No. 900.

There are still 70 games left in the season, and Ovechkin hasn’t even indicated that this will be his last, though he is playing on an expiring contract. So, exactly how many goals can Ovechkin score before his career is over?

How many goals can Ovechkin score in his NHL career?

Ovechkin has the chance to add a lot of cushion to his all-time goals record. And there aren’t any major signs of him slowing down, at least offensively. Yes, Ovechkin is 40 years old, but he is built very differently from almost every other athlete.

This is a player whose favorite pregame meal is an Italian feast fit for two or three. He also takes Pepsi in his water bottle and Dr. Pepper at intermission. Let’s also not forget that, at the age of 39, he broke his fibula during the season and still managed to score 44 goals en route to breaking Gretzky’s record.

To this point in his career, Ovechkin has never scored fewer than 32 goals in a season. Let’s at least give him that in 2025-26, which doesn’t seem unreasonable considering he scored 44 in 65 games last year. That would put Ovechkin at 929 goals by season’s end, but what if he decides to play another season or two? After all, the Capitals are a team on the rise with a good young coach, so maybe he wants to chase another Stanley Cup.

If nothing else, Ovechkin could extend his career to the age of 41 or 42 on the strength of his power play prowess alone. In 18 of his 19 full seasons, Ovechkin has scored at least 13 power play goals and as many as 25. If teams were going to stop his patented one-timer from the left circle, they probably would have done that at some point over the last two decades.

If Ovechkin can stay on the ice for the rest of this season, plus 2026-27, it’s well within the realm of possibility that he could eclipse 950 goals. It’s probably fair to say 1,000 goals is probably out of range for Ovechkin, but it would not be wise to put his chances of getting there at zero because of the longevity, durability and consistency he’s shown to this point.