The least likely records to fall with Alex Ovechkin set to break Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal mark
Alex Ovechkin will take his first crack at Wayne Gretzky’s record for all-time goals Sunday at UBS Arena. Within minutes of the final horn of the Capitals’ 5-3 win over the Blackhawks on Friday — when Ovechkin scored twice to tie Gretzky’s mark of 894, then didn’t cash in with the Chicago net unoccupied the final few minutes — secondary-market tickets had already exploded, most going for four figures.
It will be a historic hockey moment when that happens, but it will not be an unfathomable one. There are unfathomable records in sports, of course. The two that spring to mind are Jack Chesbro’s 41 wins in 1904 and Cy Young’s 511 career wins. The nature of baseball has changed so that it’s virtually impossible to envision another pitcher hitting 300 wins in a career — and increasingly unlikely anyone will win even 25 in a season again. Those are safe.
(I’d also say it’ll be impossible for anyone to ever come close to Wilt Chamberlain’s average of 48.5 minutes per game in 1962, because if any coach ever tried, the Minutes Police would emerge from the darkness with tasers and handcuffs.)
When Gretzky retired in 1999, what he left behind were two kinds of records. His goal-scoring record was feasible — and Ovechkin is about to prove it. After all, as good as Gretzky was, he’d broken the record by “only” 93 (Gordie Howe had 801, and you can bet your bottom dollar wherever he is he’s none too pleased about being in third).
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