MOSCOW, January 13. /TASS/. Washington Capitals forward Alexander Ovechkin has every chance of eclipsing the league’s all-time goals record which belongs to all-time great Wayne Gretzky of Canada, Russia’s Olympic Champion and Stanley Cup winner Nikolai Khabibulin told TASS on Friday.
Ovechkin is currently second on the NHL’s all-time goals list with 809, trailing only Gretzky at the top, who netted a total of 894 goals throughout his NHL career.
"They are completely different and can be compared, for instance, with [Sidney] Crosby and [Brett] Hull," Khabibulin said in an interview with TASS. "To put it in other words, Ovechkin is more of a scorer, while Gretzky is more of a passer."
"Moreover, when I started my career, Gretzky was already in his 30s, and it was more interesting to play against him in the 1980s," said Khabibulin, the Olympic Champion of the 1992 Winter Olympics and 2004 Stanley Cup winner (NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning club).
"I believe that if he doesn’t get seriously injured, he [Ovechkin] is likely to equal Gretzky’s record. The only question here is how long it will take," Russia’s famous ice hockey goaltender added.
Ovechkin, 37, signed with NHL’s Washington’s Capitals in 2004. The Russian player is the 2018 Stanley Cup champion and the 2008, 2012, 2014 IIHF World Championships gold medalist, in addition to his two silver and four bronze medals at the world championships.