San Jose Sharks rookie center Macklin Celebrini has always been a big fan of Alex Ovechkin, and not just because of how the Washington Capitals captain has consistently ripped home dozens of goals each season during his remarkable 20-year NHL career.
“He’s also such an amazing playmaker; he creates for his teammates around him,” Celebrini told this news organization last week. “And he, especially when he was younger, did all the little things. He laid hits, he forechecked. He’s an amazing player.”
Celebrini and the Sharks won’t have to contend with the now-39-year-old Ovechkin on Tuesday when they face the Metropolitan Division-leading Capitals. Ovechkin skated for the first time Monday since his left fibula was fractured in a Nov. 18 game against Utah, but he remains another 2-4 weeks away from resuming his season.
After Ovechkin does return, though, it’s possible he’ll be close to Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL record of 894 goals by the time the Capitals play the Sharks at SAP Center on March 15.
Ovechkin scored twice in that game against Utah last month, giving him 15 goals for the season and 868 for his career before he was injured in a leg-on-leg collision with forward Jack McBain early in the third period. The game was the Capitals’ 18th of the year.
If he had stayed close to that .83 goals per game pace for the offensively potent Capitals — a tall task, to be sure — Ovechkin could have had another 26 goals to tie Gretzky by late January or early February.
Now, if Ovechkin were to return on Dec. 31 — 43 days from the injury — when the Capitals host the Boston Bruins, he could have 30 more games under his belt, assuming he stays healthy, before he arrives in San Jose.
Having potentially 30 games to score 20 or more goals is difficult, but perhaps not totally outlandish for someone who has scored 40 or more 13 times in his NHL career, most recently in 2022-23 when he had 42.
“I think he’s going to (break the record) for sure. But it’s a question of when he’s going to come back,” said Sharks goalie Vitek Vanecek, a second-round draft pick by the Capitals in 2014 and Ovechkin’s teammate from 2020-22. “And then if he’s going to come back hot like he was before, it will be nice. If not this year, I think he’s going to break it for sure next year.”
Ovechkin’s contract runs through next season.
“Ovie’s a really good guy, Captain, leader of the team, funny guy,” Vanecek said. “It’s been really fun to watch him get closer and closer to Gretzky.
“I know it sucks to get hurt right now. He was hot too. I was thinking he can get (the record) this year. He got injured, but when he gets back, he can do it.”
Of Ovechkin’s 868 career goals, 316 have come on the power-play and 59 have come on empty netters. He also has 707 assists in 1,444 NHL games.
Ovechkin also has 16 goals and 28 points in 28 career games against the Sharks.
“It’s just a matter of time,” Celebrini said of Ovechkin. “It’s unfortunate he got hurt, but hopefully he can be back soon.”
CARBERY ON WARSOFSKY: Capitals coach Spencer Carbery has known Ryan Warsofsky for years, and fully expects the Sharks coach to add a wrinkle to his system before Tuesday’s game.
“Every time we play a Warsofsky team, he’s going to do something — one thing off the wall – and I’m planning for it,” Carbery told reporters, with a smile, on Monday. “Something will be totally off script that will be different from the pre-scout that we show the players.”
Warsofsky’s first job coaching professional hockey was as an assistant on Carbery’s staff with the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays in 2013.
That setup remained for three seasons before Carbery left to become head coach of the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit in 2016. Warsofsky then worked as the Stingrays’ head coach for two years before he coached in the AHL for four seasons until 2022.
Warsofsky then joined the Sharks and worked as an assistant on David Quinn’s staff for two seasons. Quinn was fired in April, and Warsofsky was named his replacement in June.
“He’s the man that molded me into the coach that I am so I need to thank Spence,” Warsofsky said at his introductory press conference. “He’s one of my best friends, he’s had a huge impact on my coaching career, and I can’t thank him enough.”
