The NHL is reportedly deep into discussions and planning for what exactly will take place on the ice whenever Alex Ovechkin breaks Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record.
Hockey insider Chris Johnston spoke about some of the preliminary details with Julian McKenzie on his Steve Dangle Podcast Network show last Thursday. While the league is prepared to pause whichever game Ovechkin scores career goal no. 895 in, there will apparently be a time limit on how long that pause lasts.
“There’s actually going to be a ceremony in real-time,” Johnston said. “I mean, I think there should be. This is a pretty special moment, a special goal. But they’re going to limit it to seven minutes. There will be a delay in whatever game when Ovechkin ultimately reaches this. It could be a big moment of a pretty big game, at least for one of the other teams. The Capitals have their playoff positioning already pretty much sewn up, so it’s not going to affect them to the same degree. So these are the kind of discussions and planning scenarios that are already going on.”
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has already confirmed that he and Gretzky will travel with the Capitals once Ovechkin gets closer to the record. Bettman originally stated that he would start jumping on flights once Ovi got within five goals, but that has apparently changed.
According to Johnston, the magic number will actually be four, and the traveling party from a league perspective will be much larger than just Bettman and Gretzky.
“There’s been a lot of discussion at the league level about this,” Johnston said. “It sounds like 15 NHL officials, essentially people that work for the league, will be traveling to each game once it gets closer. We know Wayne Gretzky will be there once Ovechkin’s within four of breaking the record. It’s starting to feel real. I’d say we could have a scenario where those people are starting to attend games potentially in the next few days. Would take a big weekend explosion, but I don’t think anyone would put it past Ovechkin at this time.”
After scoring his 888th career goal against the Philadelphia Flyers, Ovechkin is on pace to tie the record on April 10 vs Carolina and break it on April 12 in Columbus. However, Johnston says if Ovechkin does score that tying goal against the Hurricanes, not much is planned other than a short, team-centric celebration like when Ovechkin scored his 800th goal and his 802nd goal to pass Gordie Howe during the 2022-23 season.
“When he ties the record, there won’t be a ceremony,” Johnston said. “They’ll let the Capitals players come on the ice and celebrate with him, so there will obviously be a bit more of a break in the game than normal after a goal. But then when he breaks that record, he scores number 895, it’s going to be quite a thing.”
Ovechkin has 13 games remaining this season to score the seven goals that he needs to top Gretzky’s mark.
