Travis Yost: Alex Ovechkin could soon go from pursuer to hunted

Few storylines this season can rival Alexander Ovechkin's pursuit of the NHL's all-time goals record, famously held by the venerable Wayne Gretzky (894).

Ovechkin's consistency as an elite finisher over the last two decades has put him in position to dethrone hockey's goal king as early as this season – although Ovechkin is on a relative decline in points entering his age-39 season, he is only 42 goals to date for the breakthrough record, the exact total he collected in the 2022–23 season.

Assuming Ovechkin can stay healthy (and that has been as reliable a bet as any in his playing career), it seems just a question of whether it will take another season or a season of change to be NHL best of all time. And while this is a different-looking Capitals lineup in the post-Nicklas Backstrom era, the organization has looked to complement Ovechkin and Washington's top six with enough talent to remain competitive, including recent additions Andrew Mangiapane and Pierre Luc Dubois.

What I find just as fascinating as Ovechkin's Twilight Season is how quickly the narrative can change from “Chasing Gretzky” to “Chasing Ovechkin.” Typically, records like Gretzky's can last for many decades; After all, it's not every day that you meet a generational talent.

But I don't think it's premature to wonder what a possible pursuit of Ovechkin by Auston Matthews might look like in the future. The American sniper from Toronto may be only 27 years old and far from the top of the rankings, but his performances early in his career were exceptional. The ultimate chase would require tremendous luck with injuries and a long playing career, but so far it's very good.

And yes, Matthews' goal outburst since entering the professional level has only one parallel – namely Ovechkin himself. Compared to the best modern scorers of the last two decades (including Connor McDavid, Steven Stamkos and David Pastrnak), Ovechkin and Matthews have the edge :

It's a stunning development, and the fact that after eight seasons he's in a dead heat with Ovechkin, whose early career was one of non-stop scoring, speaks for itself.

Still, it's quite remarkable how little the Maple Leafs were able to accomplish as an organization despite having the world's leading scorer at the top of their lineup, and that's not even just a nod to their playoff futility.

This is a team that has yet to win its division outside of the COVID-19 year and forced realignment. A lot of this has to do with the strength of rivals Boston and Tampa Bay, but it also shows how difficult it was for this team to build out the rest of the roster in the context of Stanley Cup contenders.

That puts more pressure on Matthews to continue to perform, and that's what he should do – he's one of the highest-paid players in the league, he was named captain by John Tavares in the offseason, and he hasn't been in the Not the same goalscorer in the postseason. And perhaps that's an understatement: His individual points total drops 37 percent in the playoffs.

But remember, many of these criticisms were leveled against Ovechkin until they weren't. Winning is the ultimate panacea. And for a player like Matthews, who has just had an incredible 69-goal season, I think it would be foolish to bet against him.

Data via Natural Stat Trick, NHL.com, Evolving Hockey, Hockey Reference