Chris Patrick may have a front-row seat to Alex Ovechkin’s goals record chase, but that still doesn’t make what’s happening right now easy to process. While speaking to The Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, the Washington Capitals GM struggled to explain how Ovechkin reached 889 goals — six tallies away from breaking a record many thought would never be broken.
“[It’s] incredible, surreal, hard to believe it’s actually happening,” Patrick said Friday. “[It] felt like a record that was unattainable … [the media was] asking, ‘Could he do it this year?’ And it’s like, ‘Man, that’s a lot of goals to score.’ But here we are.”
Ovechkin, 39, has scored 36 goals in 56 games played this season (0.64 goals-per-game), and that’s after missing 16 contests with a broken leg. There are only three skaters with more tallies than him league-wide, and they’ve all played at least 68 games this year.
In his career, Ovechkin has missed just 75 games over 20 seasons, with 51 absences being due to injuries, per Capitals Outsider. Ovechkin’s amazing durability has left Patrick in awe, the same way it has many fans and pundits around the NHL.
“[It’s] just a testament to how incredible he is as a goal scorer and how he’s held up over these years, to be doing this at 39 is pretty incredible,” Patrick said.
Patrick has been around for just about all of Ovechkin’s chase of history, including long before Gretzky’s all-time goal mark was even considered possible for him to reach. He started in the Capitals’ organization as a scout back in 2008, eventually working his way up into the senior levels of the front office. He was named director of personnel by then-general manager Brian MacLellan in 2014, then earning promotions to assistant and associate general manager prior to his being named MacLellan’s successor last summer.
Given his long stint with the club, Patrick has seen some significant Ovechkin milestones over the years, including but not limited to becoming the top-scoring Russian player in league history, scoring the most all-time power-play goals, and passing Peter Bondra for the Capitals franchise lead in points. But, even those big honors didn’t spark the idea in Patrick’s head that the Caps’ superstar could eventually topple Gretzky.
“It wasn’t really ever on my radar,” Patrick said. “He just kind of kept hitting off the milestones, and then all of a sudden, this becomes on the radar of happening. [It] kind of snuck up on me, personally. I don’t know, for him, maybe it was something more that he saw coming … it’s incredible to see how he’s gotten here.”
Patrick and MacLellan made significant overhauls to the Capitals roster in the offseason, all in the effort of meeting Ovechkin’s request that the team remain competitive as he nears the end of his career.
The major additions have paid immediate dividends as the team boasts a 47-16-9 record (103 points) and sits second in the NHL standings with 10 games remaining in the 2024-25 regular season. Patrick believes Ovechkin’s leadership and prioritizing of team success over individual glory have been the driving factors behind this season’s results.
“He hasn’t really let [the record] be the narrative of our team over the last couple seasons,” Patrick said. “For him, it’s always been about winning, about trying to get back to win another Stanley Cup. So, when that’s his attitude and viewpoint on it, then I think the team just follows behind them. And hey, we’re out here trying to win games, and the goals will happen if they happen, and that’s kind of how it’s been for them this year.”
With that being said, Patrick still believes Ovechkin will reach the monumental milestone by the end of the year, citing the captain’s ability to get hot when it matters most.
“I think the way his season started, like he started right off the bat scoring goals and scoring them in bunches, multiple-goal games … and he tends to always finish stronger than he starts. So if this is his start, then we might be in a good spot here towards the end of the season,” Patrick said.
Ovechkin, who has scored 10 goals in his last 16 games, will have his first chance at proving Patrick right when the Capitals host the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday at Capital One Arena. He’s potted 41 goals in 66 games against the team sitting in last place in the Atlantic Division.
