Alex Ovechkin · Biography

On October 5, 2005, in the opening game of the NHL season, Alexander Mikhailovich Ovechkin made his debut for the Washington Capitals and scored twice in a 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Born in Moscow on September 17, 1985, the Russian left winger had arrived in North America as the first overall pick of the 2004 draft, and from that night on his entire NHL career was spent with the same franchise.

Family and Upbringing in Moscow

Ovechkin grew up in a sporting family. His mother, Tatyana Ovechkina, was a basketball player who won the 1975 world title and Olympic gold with the Soviet Union in 1976 and 1980; his father, Mikhail, had played soccer. He came through the Dynamo Moscow youth system and made his first-team debut in the 2001-02 season, with four points in 21 games. Over his seasons with Dynamo he recorded 36 goals and 32 assists in 152 games. The Capitals selected him first overall in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, although the lockout that wiped out the 2004-05 season delayed his move to North America by a year.

Early Years in Washington

His first NHL campaign ended with the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2006. In 2007-08 he put up 65 goals and 112 points, numbers that earned him the Maurice Richard Trophy as top goal scorer, the Art Ross as leading point scorer, the Hart as most valuable player and the Ted Lindsay Award voted on by the players. He was the first player since 1996 to score more than 60 goals in a season. He won the Hart again in 2009 and the Ted Lindsay in 2009 and 2010, and on January 5, 2010, he was named team captain.

The Lockout and a Return to Dynamo

During the 2012-13 NHL lockout he went back to Dynamo Moscow in the KHL, posting 19 goals and 21 assists in 31 games. Dynamo won the Gagarin Cup that season. Back in Washington, he finished the 2012-13 campaign as the league's top goal scorer and collected his third Hart Trophy, in 2013. Between 2013 and 2016 he added three more Maurice Richard Trophies, followed by those of 2018, 2019 and 2020, the last one shared, for a total of nine, the highest number in league history.

The 2018 Stanley Cup

After more than a decade of playoff exits, the Capitals won the 2018 Stanley Cup, beating the Vegas Golden Knights in five games in the Final. Ovechkin, the team captain, received the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP. It was the first NHL championship for the Washington franchise.

Russia National Team

With Russia he played in thirteen IIHF World Championships and won gold at three of them, in 2008, 2012 and 2014; in the 2014 final, a 5-2 win over Finland, he scored the tying goal. He also represented his country at the Winter Olympics in Turin 2006, Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014.

The NHL Goal Record

Ovechkin reached 700 NHL goals on February 22, 2020, against the New Jersey Devils, and 800 with a hat trick against the Chicago Blackhawks on December 13, 2022. In 2024-25 he broke his fibula on November 18, 2024, and missed 16 games, but he returned on December 28 and reached 40 goals for the fourteenth time, another league record. On April 4, 2025, against Chicago, he matched Wayne Gretzky's 894 goals, and two days later, on April 6, he scored goal number 895 against the New York Islanders, in his 1,487th game, to become the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer. That same year he received the Mark Messier Leadership Award. His 900th goal came on November 5, 2025, against Jordan Binnington and the St. Louis Blues, in a 6-1 victory.