from Lucas Aykroyd at the New York Times,

It is a season of milestones for Alex Ovechkin. He cracked the 900-point barrier against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday, and he needs only four more goals to achieve his next mark: becoming the leader in goals among Russian N.H.L. players.

But for that record, he will have to surpass his former teammate and longtime friend Sergei Fedorov.

Ovechkin, a five-time winner of the Maurice Richard Trophy as the league’s top goal-scorer with the Capitals, has 480 career goals in 766 games. Fedorov left the N.H.L. in 2009 at age 39 with 483 goals in 1,248 games. He will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto on Nov. 9.

“He was my best teammate I’ve played with, obviously, with his skill and personality,” Ovechkin, 30, said. “I learned a lot from him. I was lucky to play with him. It’s going to be an honor to beat his record.”...

Fedorov, 45, ended his professional career in 2012 after three seasons with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Kontinental Hockey League, and he serves as the general manager of CSKA Moscow.

“I’m glad that it is Alexander Ovechkin who will break my N.H.L. record among Russian players,” Fedorov said in an email. “We are friends for a long time, played shoulder to shoulder in Washington and Team Russia. We discussed playing the game a lot, and I’d like to believe that my advice helped him somewhere.”

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