Congratulations to Alex Ovechkin, who became the 16th player in NHL history to reach 1,500 points when the Washington Capitals forward had an assist in a 5-4 shootout loss against the Dallas Stars on December 8th, 2023. Ovechkin recorded a secondary assist on Strome’s goal at 9:08 of the final frame.
“It’s a pretty cool number,” one of the greatest Russian players ever explained after the game, per NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. “I always say, without my teammates, I would never reach it. It’s pretty cool.”
Ovechkin’s long-time rival, Sidney Crosby, became the 15th player to reach 1,500 points the previous season in April of 2023.
Not to sound disrespectful, as we all know Ovechkin and Crosby will one day be first-ballot Hall of Famers. Even though Father Time seems to have finally caught up to him at the age of 38, “The Great 8” should one day break “The Great One” Wayne Gretzky’s record for most goals scored in NHL history.
But one stat I am always reminded of when milestones like 1,500 career points occur that completely blows my mind is this: If you take away Gretzky’s goals and just use his assists, he would still be the all-time NHL leader in points with 1,963. Jaromir Jagr would still be second in history with 1,921 total points. To this day, I’ve heard this told perhaps 1,000 times, and it still blows my mind.
The card featured is from the 1992-93 Upper Deck series #33, titled, “1500”. Once again, this is a 90s junk wax era card, meaning it was mass-produced, and every collector has or at one point has had this card. But it once again proves how a $1 card can easily take you back to so many memories of the game we love.
