We witness significant milestone chases every NHL season. It’s a particularly glorious time to do so, as offense has reached a three-decade peak over the past three years, allowing for eye-popping scoring totals and players hitting benchmarks that previously might’ve taken an extra season to reach.
The league therefore has quite an exciting slate of milestones and records in the crosshairs for this coming season, including one that could send the sport into frenzied anticipation later in the year.
What’s on the table in 2024-25?
Alex Ovechkin: 895 GOALS (1
What a rollercoaster the 2023-24 campaign was for Alexander the GR8. By the season’s 43-game mark, he sat at a paltry eight goals.
Ovechkin will be 39 to start this season, has two years left on his contract and needs just 42 goals to become the sport’s all-time leader. He’s transitioned from a lock to break the record to a long shot and now, seemingly, back to a lock. With the Washington Capitals acting aggressively this summer in adding talent around him to augment their attack, can he do it in 2024-25? Gordie Howe is the only player aged 39 or older ever to score 40 or more in a season, but if anyone can join him in that club, it’s the greatest sniper the sport has ever known.
If Ovechkin gets close to the record by March or April, his every game will become appointment viewing. We’ll see what happens and, this time, we’ll know better than to count him out if he starts his season slowly again.
Sidney Crosby: 20 POINT-PER-GAME SEASONS (1st
It felt surreal to see a Gretzky record fall last spring when Connor McDavid broke the record for assists in a postseason. But now, while Ovechkin has his sites on the goal record, Crosby will try to pass Gretzky for another. Crosby delivered a 19th (consecutive) point-per-game campaign last season to equal The Great One. With a 20th, Crosby will stand alone in NHL history. Considering he’s been comfortably north of a point per game the past couple years, delivering seasons of 93 and 94, Crosby could even regress a little in his age-37 campaign and still hit the milestone. To accomplish something so indicative of longevity is amazing considering his career was truly jeopardized by concussion woes in his mid-20s.
Sidney Crosby & Steven Stamkos: 600 GOALS
Sid needs just eight goals to hit 600 for his career. He’s a lock, health permitting, and will be the 21st player to do it. It will be interesting to see whether Stamkos can get the 45 goals needed this season to reach 600 for his career. He’ll be leaving the dominant power-play environment of Tampa Bay and embarking on a new journey with the Nashville Predators. On one hand, he’s 34 and his supporting cast represents a downgrade from the elite offensive weapons surrounding him with the Lightning. On the other hand, Stamkos will be in major mission mode after the crushing disappointment of the Bolts walking away from him in free agency. But he hasn’t scored 45 since the 2018-19 campaign.
Evgeni Malkin & Patrick Kane: 500 GOALS
Crosby and Ovechkin were the defining generational talents of their era, but Kane and Malkin sit one tier below as two all-time greats who rank among the sport’s most decorated forwards ever. They should add to their accolade lists in 2024-25. Malkin needs just two goals for 500. Kane needs 29. He scored at a 33-goal pace across 50 games last season and is healthy entering 2024-25. Both players will also join the 1,300 point club this season; Malkin is four points away and Kane is 16 points away.
Malkin also needs just two assists for 800. It’s entirely possible he reaches 500 goals, 800 assists and 1,300 points in the same game.
Connor McDavid, Brad Marchand, Nathan MacKinnon & Nikita Kucherov: 1,000 POINTS
Some milestones are relative tap-ins. McDavid needs only 18 points to reach 1,000 for his career. If he does it in 10 games or fewer, he’ll beat Mike Bossy to become the third-fastest player to reach 1,000 behind only Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.
MacKinnon and Kucherov haven’t even reached 900 points for their careers yet but, as league’s reigning MVP and scoring champ, respectively, they’re capable of getting there. MacKinnon sits at 899, so he’ll do it if he plays even 65 games. Kucherov needs a lofty 127 points but, hey, he just dropped 144, so he’s highly capable.
Brad Marchand needs 71 points for 1,000. He’s not actually a lock given his scoring rate has been falling year after year as he inches toward his late 30s. He had 67 in 82 games last season.
Sergei Bobrovsky & Jonathan Quick: 400 WINS
The Hockey Hall of Fame will likely induct both these tenders one day. Bobrovsky in particular is a shoo-in; he already had two Vezina Trophies before adding his first Stanley Cup to his resume last season, and he’s about to become just the 14th goalie to win 400 games, needing four more victories. ‘Bob’ should do it before October is up. Quick, a two-time Cup champ and a Conn Smythe Trophy winner, will have a longer wait. He’s seven wins away and holds a backup role with the New York Rangers, so it could be half a season by the time he gets win No. 400.
Paul Maurice & Lindy Ruff: 900 COACHING WINS
Maurice and Ruff had been linked for years as the two “Coachingest” coaches without championships, the all-time leaders in Cupless games behind the bench. Maurice shed that label by earning a ring in Florida last season. He needs just 31 wins to become the fourth coach to win 900. That’s a piece of cake. Ruff now holds the title of the most regular-season games coached without a championship at 1,774, and he returns to the team with whom he had his most success, the Buffalo Sabres. He needs 37 wins for 900. If Buffalo can’t win that many, 2024-25 will qualify as a disappointment.
Other milestones to watch in 2024-25
– Jamie Benn and Auston Matthews: 400 goals
– Frederik Andersen, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Connor Hellebuyck: 300 wins
