Spencer Carbery may have his Washington Capitals in a great spot, but the coach can also contribute to a piece of NHL history this season by helping Alex Ovechkin break Wayne Gretzky‘s all-time goal-scoring record.
The veteran forward boasts 883 career goals, only 11 shy of The Great One‘s historic number. With more than 20 games remaining in the 2024-25 NHL season for the Capitals, Carbery knows that there’s time to look for the best way to help Ovechkin surpass the mark set by Gretzky.
Speaking on “The Sports Junkies” show on 106.7 The Fan Wednesday morning, the Capitals head coach made it clear that it will come down to talking with Ovechkin to see his favorite approach.
“Yeah, it won’t be anything crazy,” Carbery said, as quoted by RMNB. “It’ll just be, ‘Hey, here’s what I’m thinking. Here’s where you’re at with it. What are your thoughts?’ Get his opinion, and then we’ll just go from there.”
Head coach Spencer Carbery of the Washington Capitals speaks with the media prior to Game One of the First Round of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on April 21, 2024 in New York City.
Carbery reveals Ovechkin doesn’t want empty-net goal to break Gretzky’s record
In his interview, Carbery made more interesting revelations about Ovechkin’s pursuit of the NHL career goals record. According to the Capitals coach, the 39-year-old doesn’t want to overtake Gretzky with an empty-net goal.
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“I’ve thought about it,” Carbery said. “I haven’t talked to O [Ovechkin] about this yet but, this is my guess, is that when it gets to that point, I don’t think he’s going to want to break it with an empty netter.”
Carbery, however, believes that Ovechkin wouldn’t hesitate to hit an empty net to match Gretzky’s record: “Yeah, that’s fair. I think the goal to break Wayne, this iconic record that’ll be shown for years to come in history, I think you want a goaltender in the net.”
Carbery doesn’t downplay Ovechkin’s empty-net goals
Ovechkin boasts the record for most empty-net goals in NHL history with 64, eight more than Gretzky, who is second on that list. Carbery defended that way of scoring though, explaining that it shows how important Alex is for the Capitals: “He’s a lot of times our best option to be out there to win the hockey game.”
Still, while there’s nothing bad in seizing an empty net, Alex’s coach knows that the player wants the record-breaking goal to be special: “Yeah, I haven’t gotten to that far planning-wise, but I have thought about it, and I think it’s something that we’ll discuss and decide. You just want to make sure there’s a goalie in the net when he breaks it.”
