It would be a shock if Alex Ovechkin doesn’t break Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record before the 2024-25 NHL regular season ends. And everyone is wondering which goalie will allow the historic goal. Marc-Andre Fleury has now shared his take on the record—and no one expected him to be this honest.
Alex Ovechkin has the all-time goals record within reach. Despite suffering a broken leg early in the season, he’s having a campaign for the ages. At 39, he currently sits at 39 goals for the season. He scored the only goal for the Capitals in their 5-1 loss to the Hurricanes on Wednesday. While no one was hoping for a loss, it did mean Ovechkin got within two goals of tying Wayne Gretzky’s long-standing mark of 894 goals.
The Capitals have seven games left in the 2024-25 regular season, and Ovechkin needs just three more goals to secure the No. 1 spot as the greatest goal-scorer in league history. It no longer seems like a question of if Ovechkin will break the record, but when. Looking at the odds, it seems likely that the New York Islanders could be the team he breaks the record against.
Fleury’s take on Alex Ovechkin’s record
Goalies around the league have dreaded being the one to allow the record-breaking goal—not because Ovechkin doesn’t deserve it, but because they would become a part of history in a not-so-flattering way.
Minnesota Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury is the active goalie who has allowed the most goals to Ovechkin. When asked about his thoughts on possibly being the goalie who gives up the record-breaking goal, he was unexpectedly honest, speaking strictly from a goalie’s perspective.
“I’d be pissed in the moment,” Fleury said about being the goalie who allows the record-setting goal, per Jonny Lazarus of the Daily Faceoff. “I’d still be pissed a few days later because you’ll be on TV for years, just always being highlighted as the guy who got scored on. I didn’t want to be that guy, that’s for sure.”
When asked if there’s any part of him that would think it would be cool to be that goalie, he quickly replied, “No.”
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