And why might he be smiling wider in a few months?
Washington Capitals captain, Alexander Ovechkin, is the man seen smiling with a tooth missing in this week’s Fan Teaser. When this image was captured, he was smiling because NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman had just handed him the Stanley Cup following the Capitals’ 2018 NHL Stanley Cup Finals victory over the Vegas Golden Knights.
Ovechkin, who’s been in the NHL since the 2005-06 season has now amassed 873 regular-season goals. That puts him – as of the morning of January 12, 2025 – 21 goals behind record holder, Wayne Gretzky.
Gretzky’s owned the record since surpassing Gordie Howe‘s mark of 802 back in March 1994. Gretzky retired in 1999 (of course he did, right!?!) which mean’s he’s owned the mark for 25-plus seasons. It seemed somewhat insurmountable (the closest anyone’s come before Ovechkin was was Jaromir Jagr‘s 766) but the Russian sniper seems destined to take the Great One down.
One Gretzky record that’s unlikely to ever fall is his career points scored (goals + assists): 2,857. Jagr is second with 1,921. For perspective, Gretzky’s total is 48.7% higher than Jagr’s. Record holders in other leagues would need to finish their careers with the following totals to be 48.7% better (cap tip to reader and author of From Box Scores to Test Scores, Michael O’Connell, for the math):
- MLB Home Runs – 1. Gretzky 1,133; 2. Barry Bonds 762; 3. Hank Aaron 755
- MLB Hits – 1. Gretzky 6,329; 2. Pete Rose 4,256; 3. Ty Cobb 4,189
- NFL Passing Yards – 1. Gretzky 132,661; 2. Tom Brady 89,214; 3. Drew Brees 80,358
- NFL Touchdowns – 1. Gretzky 309; 2. Jerry Rice 208; 3. Emmitt Smith 175
- NBA Points (through 1/11/25) – 1. Gretzky 61,355; 2. LeBron James 41,261; 3. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 38,387
Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.