Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is nine goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record. (Wendall Cruz — Imagn Images) [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/200d663d-36e9-4af1-9ab0-309fd2ccd313.webp] Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is nine goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record. (Wendall Cruz — Imagn Images) WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin stands in the corner of the Washington Capitals locker room, looking down and shaking his head as teammate John Carlson raves to reporters about his final push to break Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record. Minutes later, it's Ovechkin's turn as he's surrounded by a scrum of journalists. And as he's asked who he enivisions assisting on his record-breaking 895th goal, he smiles, gets up from his stall and saunters back down the hall. "Alright, thank you," he murmurs with a laugh. As he's moved closer in his pursuit of Gretzky — he's nine goals away thanks to his 33-goal campaign in his 20th NHL season — his answers to questions surrounding the record have gotten shorter. He doesn't want to discuss it, and will either defer to discussing the team's success this season, give a short answer about taking things one game at a time or, as he did Sunday, not offer an answer. For the captain, it's about humility and staying humble. He knows what the record means, and of course, it's important to him and on his mind at times. But ultimately, he sees no reason bask in the attention and showboat about it. “Why you have to be selfish (about it)?” Ovechkin told The Hockey News. “My dad always told me like, ‘It doesn’t matter how good you are, how successful you are. You have to stay the same level that you came into the league." It's just the way the 39-year-old is. He'll get just as excited when his teammates score than himself, and he also won't be the first to point out his individual accolades. "He's very humble, very generous," Dylan Strome said. “One of the coolest things about Ovi is he’s never changed for anybody,” Tom Wilson added. “When he came into his league, he was a superstar and rock star, and everybody was on him. Every day since then, he’s been Ovi, he’s been outspoken, he’s been whoever he is." Former teammate Jose Theodore, who played with Ovechkin in his prime, affirmed that he hasn't changed much, and even in his younger, more reckless days, was a great leader. "When I saw Ovi and I saw the way that he would practice and the way that he would approach the game, I would have a lot of arguments with people outside the game (who said), 'Oh, Ovi is not like Crosby, he only thinks about himself.' That would get me riled up because I would say, 'You don’t know. Ovi’s the kind of guy that if he stays two minutes on the ice, it’s not because he wants to stay two minutes and score a goal, it’s because he really believes he can make a difference and he can be the game-changer and he wants that responsibility,'" Theodore said. "He was one of the best leaders. Even if he didn't score, he was still happy, he was in a good mood, even if he played bad... He didn't deserve all that negativity about not being a team player or not being a leader, that would really piss me off," Theodore added. "I've never seen a guy who wants to win as bad as him." At the end of the day, Ovechkin, who is also now just one of 11 players to hit 1,600 points at the NHL level, is just happy to be able to pursue greatness with the Capitals. "Without my teammates, without this organization, you never know what’s going to happen, right?" Ovechkin said. “If I was drafted by different team, I don’t know if I’m going to have that success. I’m lucky enough to be able to have grown up as a person, as a hockey player in one organization. I’m thankful for that.” As for his legacy, Ovechkin wants to be defined and remember for one thing, and it's not goal scoring. "(Being) a good person," he said. "That's it."
