Evgeny Kuznetsov is serving as the man of the people when it comes to wanting another milestone from Alex Ovechkin.
The former Washington Capitals center and Ovechkin’s good friend wants to see Ovechkin keep playing until he scores 1,000 career regular-season goals in the NHL. After scoring 32 times this past season, Ovechkin currently sits at 929 career goals, 71 away from becoming the first player ever to reach 1,000.
“Of course, I’m expecting Ovechkin to set another record,” Kuznetsov told Sila Sporta’s Dmitry Levin, as translated via Google Translate. “How far is it to a thousand? Around 70, I think. I think it would be really cool when you’re old enough to sit there and tell everyone how many goals you’ve scored—a thousand!
“It sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it? It would be a real story, a record that’s unlikely to be broken by anyone.”
If Ovechkin were to keep scoring at his career goal-per-game rate, 0.59, he would reach 1,000 career goals in his 1,693rd career game. That feat would involve him playing in another 120 NHL games, which means he’d need to skate in at least two more seasons with the Capitals or score at a faster pace than his career average in his early 40s.
Ovechkin decided against retirement this summer, signing a one-year contract to return to the Capitals for the 2026-27 campaign. He has also since said that he doesn’t know if the upcoming season will for sure be his last with the Caps. The legendary winger has already hit 1,006 career goals when you add in his playoff tallies, sitting just 10 behind Wayne Gretzky for that all-time lead.
Kuznetsov played a sizable role in helping Ovechkin reach his current goal-scoring heights, recording assists on 110 of his goals. Only two players, Nicklas Backstrom (279) and John Carlson (158), could say they assisted Ovechkin more on his way to overtaking Gretzky’s all-time goals record.
Ovechkin’s longtime centerman has been back in the KHL since the start of the 2024-25 season and is playing for Sibir Novosibirsk this year. Kuznetsov got off to a hot start with his new club, scoring his 100th career KHL goal, regular season and playoffs combined, in his debut.
