Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Others On Ovechkin's Quest For 800+ Goals

02/03/2020 at 12:18pm EST

from Tom Gulitti of NHL.com,

The NHL 700-goal club is ready to welcome Alex Ovechkin with open arms.

But its members said they do not expect the Washington Capitals forward to be satisfied when he joins them. They suspect he'll move on quickly -- and past most of them -- in pursuit of Wayne Gretzky's NHL record of 894 goals....

NHL.com talked with each of the six living 700-goal scorers, all members of the Hockey Hall of Fame except Jagr, who continues to play professionally in the Czech Republic at 47 years old, as well as Mark Howe, a Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman and son of Gordie, who died in 2016.

The consensus is that 700 will be just a pitstop for Ovechkin.

"Well, he's going to get to 800, there's no doubt in my mind, as long as he's not hurt or anything like that," Dionne said. "One day, it could stop, but I don't see how. He's got tremendous energy and he's fun to watch."...

Mark Howe, a longtime scout for the Detroit Red Wings, remembers bringing his dad along a few times to watch the Capitals. Like many, Mr. Hockey was drawn to Ovechkin.

"He admired the way that [Ovechkin] played," Howe said. "He was big and powerful, and anybody recognizes what an awesome shot he has. Something that really stood out is Alex has a real passion for scoring goals. Not everybody has that passion. There's guys that want to score. He loves to score goals. And the other part is he tries to embrace the crowd with it.

"I know Dad always felt that it's important for players to give back, and I think he felt that Alex did that."

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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