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Wayne Gretzky attends Capitals game in Toronto to watch Alex Ovechkin, joins Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin in broadcast booth

By Chris Cerullo

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January 29, 2023 7:28 pm

The Washington Capitals flew up to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs on Sunday. In attendance for the matchup was some serious hockey royalty.

Wayne Gretzky made his presence known when he jumped into the TV broadcast booth with Joe Beninati and Craig Laughlin. The Great One chatted with Joe B and Locker at the end of the first period.

Gretzky said he was in the building to watch the man who is trying to track down his all-time goals record, Caps captain Alex Ovechkin.

“I come to Toronto a little bit here and there,” Gretzky started. “My son who is a huge hockey fan that works with me at TNT said to me, ‘Dad, the Capitals are playing tomorrow at 5, we’re going to be in Toronto at 3 o’clock. We’ve gotta go to the game. We’ve gotta watch Ovi.’

“I don’t go to a lot of games but my goodness you gotta go watch Ovi play,” he continued. “You guys are getting paid to watch him play?”

Gretzky turned 62 years old on Thursday and on that same day, Ovechkin scored his 812th career goal in a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Great Eight is a player that Gretzky says is special for many reasons.

“He’s wonderful,” Gretzky added. “I say this all the time. He’s been great for the NHL, great for Washington, great for Russia, great for the community. What a wonderful young man. He’s pretty remarkable. Everybody knows where he’s coming from, right? It’s pretty obvious where he’s gonna be and what he’s going to do and what he’s thinking about doing. But, that’s what makes him so special.

“I’m so happy that he won a Stanley Cup – he’s just a wonderful young man,” he continued. “He deserves all the credit and all the accolades he’s getting. I couldn’t be more happy to be around a guy that has a chance to break my record. It’s not going to change my life. It’s going to be a positive for the NHL and that’s all that matters.”

The tally against the Pens brought Ovechkin within 82 of Gretzky on the NHL’s all-time goals list. With Ovi continuing to creep closer and closer to his record, Gretzky says he remembers some words of advice from his father Walter when asked about how he feels about the chase.

“Everybody always says to me, ‘Are you worried about your record?’,” Gretzky said. “I don’t worry about it. One day I was sitting with my dad and said, ‘I’m so nervous. I’m breaking Gordie Howe’s record.’ My dad, he’s so smart, he said, ‘Don’t worry about it. Gordie is proud of you. One day you be the same way, same class as when that guy beats your record.’ I said, ‘Okay’ and here we are today. He’s got a chance and I hope he does it. It’s good for the game.”

Earlier in the season, Ovechkin was amid trying to track down Gordie Howe’s 801-goal mark for second all-time. During that journey, Gordie’s sons Mark and Marty were very present and vocal about their support of Ovi’s journey.

The Caps even paused the game that Ovechkin fully passed Howe in so that Mark could give some congratulatory words on the big screen at Capital One Arena.

That’s something that Gretzky says sums up the Howe family well.

“I called Mark when I saw him at the game and I said, ‘Your dad would be so proud.’,” Gretzky said. “It’s only fitting that that’s how the Howe family operates…The Howe family just does everything the right way.”

So, does Wayne plan on following Ovechkin around when Ovi gets close to tying and eventually breaking his record? If he did, it would match what Gordie did when Gretzky was nearing Howe’s all-time points total.

In early October, he said he wanted to do just that. He changed his tune a bit on Sunday.

“They always say to me, ‘Are you going to follow Ovi around?’ And, I said if Mr. Leonsis sends me his jet, I’ll go anywhere they want,” Gretzky joked.

Looks like that one could be up to you, Ted.

Screenshot via @Laughlin18/Twitter

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