Alexander Ovechkin celebrates his 39th birthday on September 17th.
Born on September 17th, 1985, Alexander “Ovi” Ovechkin is one of the greatest hockey players in the NHL. He has been playing hockey since 2001, starting in the Russian Superleague with Dynamo Mosco at the age of 16 before being drafted first overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft by the Washington Capitals. Early in his life, Aleander Ovechkin said “It’s the best hockey there is,” about the NHL. Since then, he has made himself the best in hockey.
Alexander Ovechkin is the youngest son in an extremely athletic family, with his mom being two-time Olympic gold medalist in basketball Tatyana Ovechkin and his father being professional soccer player Mikhail Ovechkin. After spending eight and a half years in a public school, Ovi would join Dynamo Moscow’s sports school, the development program for his soon-to-be first professional team.
In his first year with Dynamo Moscow, Alexander Ovechkin would only score four points in 21 total games, but by the time he was drafted he had 36 goals and 32 assists in 152 games. Ovi’s hockey reputation was so great that he was almost drafted a year early by the Florida Panthers despite being 2 days too young, with the Panthers’ GM claiming Ovi was old enough after “taking leap years into consideration”.
After being officially drafted first overall by the Washington Capitals, Alexander Ovechkin played his first game in the 2005-06 season opener, scoring two goals in a 3-2 victory. Later that same season, he scored his first hat trick, and a few days later scored “one of the greatest goals of all time” according to Bill Clement. At the end of his rookie season, he had the highest number of goals, points, power play goals, and shots on goal among all other rookies and was third overall for scoring in the entire NHL. This performance landed him the Calder Memorial Trophy and he became the first rookie in 15 years to be named to the NHL first All-Star team.
Alexander Ovechkin’s second season was more of the same, with 46 goals and assists, landing him with 92 points over 82 games. His third season however is considered his best, as he scored a career high 65 goals, had 47 assists, which led him to his highest points in a season at 112. This season, he scored his 100th goal against the New York Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist, became the first NHL player to score 60 goals in a season since the ‘95-’96 season, broke the team’s records for goals in a season, and breaking the record for most goals by a left winger. His performance earned him both the Art Ross and Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophies. He would also earn the Lester B. Pearson Award (now known as the Ted Lindsay Award) and the Hart Memorial Trophy, becoming the first player in NHL history to win four major regular season awards in the same season.
The following season, Alexander Ovechkin became the fourth player to reach 200 goals in only 4 seasons, ending his fourth season with 56 goals and 54 assists and his second Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy, as well as the Ted Lindsay and Hart awards for a second year, becoming the 17th player in history to win multiple Hart trophies. In his fifth season, he suffered an injury, causing him to miss a handful of games, followed by a two-game suspension. Despite this, he was named the captain of the Capitals that same season and would score his 500th point in a game against the Rangers. He ended this season with 50 goals and 59 assists, earning him the Ted Lindsay award, making him the second to win it three consecutive years.
In 2011, Alexander Ovechkin earned both his 600th career point and 300th career goal during the ‘10-’11 season, ending it with 32 goals and 53 assists. The next year was more of the same, finishing with 38 goals and 27 assists. In the ‘12-’13 season, Ovi re-joined the Dynamo Moscow due to the lockout and then returned in January 2013. Even with the shortened season, he managed to win his third Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy as well as his third Heart Memorial Trophy. Ovi would make history this year too, as he switched to being a right wing that year, earning him a spot on the first NHL All-Star team. However, not everyone was aware of the change, so he also earned a spot on the second team as a left wing, being the first and only player to be named to both the first and second All-Star Team.
The following season, Alexander Ovechkin scored his 400th career goal, doing so in 634 games and winning another Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy. The next season he broke both the franchise records for points with number 826 and goals with 473, and earned himself his fifth Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy. Early in the ‘15-’16 season, Ovi broke the record for goals by Russian born players with 484, scored goal 500 in January of 2016, became the third player in NHL history with seven or more 50-goal seasons and secure yet another Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy.
In 2017, after scoring his 1,000th point Alexander Ovechkin still did not have a Stanley Cup title despite being arguably the best active player in the NHL. Before the start of the ‘17-’18 season, Ovechkin predicted “We’re not gonna ******* suck this year.”That would become one of many promises made by legendary athletes to become reality when the Ovi and the Capitals both won their first Stanley Cup title against the Vegas Golden Knights, earning him the Conn Smythe Trophy. In the process, Ovi went on a milestone spree, breaking the franchise record for hat tricks, became the first Capital to play 1,000 games, broke the league record for overtime goals, recorded his 500th career assist, 600th career goal, and the second player to lead the league in goals scored for 7 seasons.
The next season, Alexander Ovechkin became the fastest player in the NHL to take 5,000 shots on goal, finishing the season with 51 goals and 38 assists, earning him a record-setting 8th Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy. In the ‘19-’20 season, he reached the 700-goal mark, and earning a shared Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy with David Pastrnak. The following season was a career low, mostly due to the season being shortened by Covid-19, but the following year he broke the record for most power play goals with his 275th and would advance into the third most career goals position with 767.
In the ‘22-’23 season Alexander Ovechkin scored goal 787, setting the record for most goals with a single team, and would later become the third player to score 800 goals. The following game, he tied, then passed Gordie Howe for second place, leaving only “the Great One” Wayne Gretzky ahead of him. Last season, he broke the record for most emtpy-net goals, and heads into this ‘24-’25 season only 41 goals away from tying and 42 away from breaking Gretzky’s all-time goals scored record.
Over his 19 seasons, Alexander Ovechkin was selected for the NHL All-Star Game 13 times, won 4 gold medals at various international hockey events, and graced the cover of the EA Sports NHL game twice.
