Few storylines this season will rival Alexander Ovechkin’s chase for the NHL’s all-time goal scoring record, famously held by the venerable Wayne Gretzky (894).

Ovechkin’s consistency as an elite finisher over the past two decades has set him up to dethrone hockey’s goal king as soon as this season — even amidst a relative scoring slowdown as he enters his age-39 season, Ovechkin is just 42 goals away from breaking the record, the exact total he amassed during the 2022-23 season.

Assuming Ovechkin can stay healthy (and this has been as reliable a bet as any over his playing career), it seems just a question of whether it will take one more season, or a season and change to become the NHL’s all-time best. And though this is a different-looking Capitals lineup in the post-Nicklas Backstrom era, the organization has tried to supplement Ovechkin and the........

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