Mikhail Gorbachev was elected as the eighth general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on March 11, 1985. This was a pivotal moment for the USSR, as the new leader set his sights on reform and strengthening ties with the United States. In just six years, the Soviet Union collapsed. But perhaps just as significant is what happened on Sept. 17, 1985. Somewhere in Moscow, Alexander “Ovi” Ovechkin was born. Nobody knew it yet, but he would go on to become one of hockey’s all-time greats.
40 years later, the Russian winger of the Washington Capitals is now closing in on history. In a matchup with Winnipeg on Tuesday night, Ovi lit the lamp for the 889th time in his career. He’s only six goals away from breaking the record set by Wayne Gretzky, considered by most to be the greatest player to ever take the ice. If Ovechkin is able to maintain this season’s pace of 0.65 goals per game, he’ll break the record before the year’s end.
At times like these, it’s easy for fans to fall into a familiar routine. Legacy will come into question; rankings will be made. Think back to LeBron James’ quest to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer in 2023, and one will remember that the internet was ablaze with reincarnations of the Jordan-LeBron debate. It’s the same story with the decades-long debate of Lionel Messi versus Cristiano Ronaldo, and so on. Wherever history is made, pointless discord follows.
But it’s likely that to Ovechkin, these squabbles are trivial at best. In an interview with Sport-Express’ Igor Rabiner, Ovechkin downplayed the accomplishment entirely. “I don’t make plans, I just do my job. I do what’s necessary for the team, for the result,” he said.
Of course, comparison and rankings are crucial to making sports compelling overall, but such discussions are often inadequate in their attempts to quantify a player’s legacy.
After all, numbers can never accurately represent the accomplishments of an entire lifetime. When we look back at Ovechkin’s career, he mustn’t be described as the man who scored X amount of goals in X amount of games and won X amount of championships.
Using numbers in isolation is a flawed approach for two key reasons. First, it overlooks crucial context — how can playstyles be compared across two entirely different eras? Second, it disregards the many attributes that cannot be put on a stat sheet. This is a common sports philosophy; the “intangibles” are what make players truly special.
If we simply look at a number of goals, aren’t we ignoring the other ways Ovi has defined a generation of hockey players, both on and off the ice? What about the careers he’s made through his leadership as the Capitals’ captain? Perhaps most importantly, how can a number describe the way that a Russian who has publicly supported Russian President Vladimir Putin in the past has become a beloved figure in American sports?
Ovechkin’s life has been far from easy, but if you only focused on his accomplishments or the iconic video of his plunge into the fountain at Georgetown Waterfront Park after winning the 2018 Stanley Cup, you’d never know. He’s faced profound struggles, like losing his older brother at the age of 10 and witnessing many of his childhood friends fall victim to incarceration or worse. These, too, are just pieces of a much larger puzzle.
When Ovechkin nets no. 895, everyone will have an opinion. But perhaps the best opinion is simply to sit back and watch history, knowing that you appreciated a legend before it was too late.
