Alex Ovechkin scored the 895th goal of his career against the New York Islanders on Sunday, becoming the NHL’s new goals king. Not only did the moment get written into the hockey history books, but so did the gear that made it happen.
One of the main priceless artifacts that will come from the historic night is the size 58 Capitals away jersey that Ovechkin was wearing when he scored the historic goal. Before play resumed after the ensuing on-ice celebration, Ovechkin could be seen taking the jersey off and handing it to MeiGray President and COO Barry Meisel.
MeiGray is one of the industry leaders in game-used sports memorabilia and the long-time authenticator of Washington Capitals game-used gear. In fact, they are currently partnering with Heritage Auctions to auction off the jerseys that Ovechkin was wearing when he scored his 300th and 400th career goals. The jerseys have already fetched $32,500 in combined bids with 10 days remaining in the auctions.
While Ovechkin’s record-breaking sweater, that features Capitals’ 50th anniversary and TikTok patches, isn’t heading for an auction block, Meisel took to the company’s Instagram page to describe the collection process and the plans for it.
“I’m back in MeiGray’s Authenticated offices (in New Jersey), and I’ve got 895 right here,’ Meisel said. “It was an exciting time. MeiGray was proud to authenticate one of the great days in hockey history – Alex Ovechkin passing Wayne Gretzky as the NHL’s all-time leading goal scorer. We had Alex ready to wear five jerseys yesterday, having tied Gretzky on Friday in Washington. We were pretty confident that yesterday was going to be the day.
“Alex wore a jersey in warm-up. He wore a jersey in the first period. When he scored in the second period, in this jersey, the ceremony began, the craziness began. MeiGray Authenticated was down at the player bench, knowing that the plan was to take this jersey, immediately secure it, and ensure authentication by photographing it, tagging it, and properly creating the historic item that it now is.”
Meisel then lifted up the backside of the jersey to show the special raised, fraud-proof sticker that Capitals head equipment manager Brock Myles put inside the jersey and signed. The red and blue three-dimensional sticker, which reads “OVIE GOAL 895” next to the Capitals’ logo, has a special chip inside of it to prevent doctoring or reproduction.
MeiGray also added their sewn-in authentication patch for the 2024-25 season and the jersey’s unique ID number, X00412. Meisel pointed out a black puck mark on the sweater’s crest that the company used to match it with photos from when Ovechkin scored the goal.
“We took the jersey back today, photographed it,” Meisel said. “We want to keep the historical record of what the jersey looks like. Nice mark he got in the second period before he scored, around the crest. Obviously, every jersey is unique, as MeiGray has always said every jersey is a fingerprint. We photo matched it today, we secured it today, it is going in our MeiGray vault today, and I’ll be delivering it personally to the Capitals and Ovechkin later this week.”
The meticulous authentication process comes after past instances of game-used gear from huge sporting moments going missing. The most well-publicized case is Tom Brady’s game-used New England Patriots jersey from Super Bowl LI being stolen from the team’s locker room by a member of the international media from Mexico.
FOX Sports Films later produced an hour-long documentary in 2020, entitled “The Great Brady Heist,” chronicling the disappearance and eventual recovery of Brady’s jersey.
Game-used items from historic moments can be worth thousands, if not millions of dollars. For example, the jersey Lebron James wore when he broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s NBA career points record is estimated to be worth over $3 million, according to the director of sports at Heritage Auctions. The jersey has never come up for auction.
James’ game-used Los Angeles Lakers jersey he wore when he became just the second NBA player ever to record 38,000 career points, sold at Sotheby’s auction house for $393,700 in April last year.
In this case, the historic Ovechkin jersey was handed straight to Meisel, so there isn’t much need for a lengthy authentication process. But there are key ways to identify a game-used Ovechkin sweater if there is doubt that he actually wore it in a game.
MeiGray’s NHL Program Director, Geoff Spaid, posted a video to the company’s Instagram several weeks ago, outlining some of the special things that Ovechkin has the Capitals’ equipment staff do with his jerseys.
“Today we’re going to be talking about different modifications players make to their jerseys to fit their play styles and what they like,” Spaid said. “In front of me, I have Alexander Ovechkin. He’s currently chasing Wayne Gretzky’s goal record, and he does a very interesting modification to his jerseys.
“You can see inside normally a player has one fight strap, but instead, Ovi has two additional fight straps sewn in the sides of the jerseys. You can see it visible on the outside, but that’s to help keep the jersey tucked in so he doesn’t have it fly out during the games.”
Ovechkin regularly played with what the NHL eventually deemed an illegally tucked jersey early in his career. Rules were implemented ahead of the 2013-14 season to crack down on the practice, and those rules also included regulations against rolling up the sleeves of a jersey. Ovechkin and the Caps eventually found a creative way around the latter, sewing the team’s jersey designs onto his elbow pads.
Ovechkin’s jersey wasn’t the only big item authenticated from the night. Monumental Sports Network’s Tarik El-Bashir captured video of Myles also getting the milestone goal puck photographed for documentation.
One of Ovechkin’s first questions after he scored was to Tom Wilson, who earned the primary assist on the goal. “Oh, did you guys get the puck?” Ovechkin asked per one of TNT’s mic’d up segments.
“Yeah, Carbs has it,” Wilson replied, the nickname for Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery.
Ovechkin’s concern is sensible considering the sheer pandemonium on the ice after his shot went in the net. All of Ovechkin’s teammates were more concerned with mobbing him at center ice than grabbing the milestone puck. He did get his hands on it postgame, posing with it for the media.
According to Meisel on an episode of the Tales from the Warehouse podcast last month, Ovechkin’s record-breaking jersey and the hockey stick he used to score the goal with will return to the Capitals captain and be centerpieces in the museum he plans on building.
Ovechkin aims to open the celebratory display in his native Moscow that will feature his own memorabilia and the extensive game-used stick collection he has put together through gifts from teammates and fellow superstars.
