There are many storylines that come from the pause on sports leagues due to the coronavirus pandemic. One is that some players are losing valuable time in their chase for milestones.
Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin is one of those players. He’s two goals shy of reaching 50 on the season. That would be the ninth time he’s done that, tying an NHL record. He’s also 188 goals shy of matching Wayne Gretzky’s career mark of 894.
Now 34, Ovechkin isn’t getting any younger. If the NHL resumes by going straight to the playoffs, Ovechkin would miss out on his 50-goal season and lose valuable time chasing Gretzky as well. Ultimately, though, he’s not too concerned by this.
“Of course, you want to score 50,” Ovechkin said, via J.J. Regan of NBC Sports Washington. “But right now, like everyone is saying, the most important thing is be stay safe and to get this thing done. It sucks to not score 50 and to not get another milestone, but you have to think about your family, people and fans to be more safe. I’m pretty sure the sooner this is going to be over, the sooner we’re going to start back playing hockey. It’ll be nice to score again 50 goals or reach those milestones, but right now our mind is on just trying to be safe. It’s a scary situation.”
Ovechkin recently reached 700 career goals, and he likely does still have a few years left in him. He’s taking the right view on this — he’ll have his chances, but for now, public health is more important.
