Alex Ovechkin still has years to catch Gordie Howe's goal totals

Alex Ovechkin is closing in on Gordie Howe's record for most NHL goals scored. Ovi has scored 787 goals in 18 seasons with the Washington Capitals. Wayne Gretzky is the all-time leading scorer with 1,856 goals.

There have been four NHL career scoring leaders over the past 85 years. Nels Stewart passed Howie Morenz for the top spot in 1937. Maurice Richard passed him in 1960 with 544 goals. Howe had 446 regular-season goals at the time of his retirement. He tied Richard six games into the 1963-64 season. He scored No. 545 against Montreal in Detroit on November 10, 1963. The NHL’s yearly scoring award is named after Richard. It took him another three full seasons to get within striking range of Richard and the league”s No., 3 career scorer (Ted Lindsay).

Alex Ovechkin is 95 goals short of Gordie Howe's record of 1,071 goals in the NHL and the WHA. Gretzky scored 1.072 goals, but that's because he played in World Hockey Association. Ovi is 200 goals behind Howe and 146 behind Hull. Jaromir Jagr is ahead of OVEV, with 910 goals. He played for Czech team that OVI owns and plays for. The WHAs were very good, and only four of their players were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Ovechkin is on the way to passing Howe on NHL goals. Gretzky was 750 goals behind Howe when he retired. Ovechy is 366 goals ahead of Sidney Crosby. He has 18 20-goal seasons, one fewer than Jagr, Brendan Shanahan and Dave Andreychuk. He needs four more seasons to catch Gretzy. It's too soon to tell who will be the next to pass him.