While the hockey world waits for Alexander Ovechkin to score his 900th NHL goal, the league for which he devoted 20 years of his life is not even going to applaud. It seems that this is no longer just a formality, but disrespect for the legend who has done more for the NHL than anyone in recent decades.

Ovechkin on the threshold of eternity

898 heads. Two more and Alexander Ovechkin will enter a zone where no one has gone before. Not Gretzky, not Hull, not Lemieux. Nobody. 900 goals in the regular season is not just a number, it is an era. A frontier that may not be conquered by anyone else.

Alexander Ovechkin / Photo: © Patrick Smith / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

But when it comes to the historic shot, the NHL appears to be staying away. League vice commissioner Bill Daly explained that there would be no ceremony to honor the 900th goal.

— Celebrations on the occasion of such anniversary goals are usually organized by the clubs, not the league. We are usually invited to take part in the ceremony,” Daly told Championship.

“It’s a matter of the club” is too dry an explanation

Formally, Daly is right. It’s true that the NHL rarely holds ceremonies for players’ personal bests. But here is a different case. This is not just about the “anniversary” goal. We are talking about an event that has never happened in the entire history of hockey.

Ovechkin is not just the best sniper of our time. He is the face of the NHL, a man who has carried the league through eras, countries and trends. Once upon a time, it was he who made hockey fashionable again, returned roughness and passion to the ice, and united generations of fans. And now – not a word, not a banner, not a short video on the scoreboard? Daly’s words sound like a bureaucratic reply to a living human achievement.

Alexander Ovechkin / Photo: © Patrick Smith / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Journalists asked Daly about something else: could the NHL ever retire Ovechkin’s legendary “8” throughout the league, as it did with Wayne Gretzky’s “99”? The answer was just as cold.

“We won’t think about it until Ovi announces his retirement.” In the 107-year history of the league, only one number has been retired from circulation. This is very rare,” said the vice commissioner.

Yes, formally everything is correct. But isn’t it obvious that the second such “rarity” is already before our eyes?

Who else if not Ovechkin?

Ovechkin is the only player who has really caught up with Gretzky in terms of pace and scale. He has lived through three eras of the NHL—the tough 2000s, the tactical 2010s and the fast 2020s. He has withstood lockouts, pandemics, age, changes in coaches and generations. And at the same time he continues to score. Even if future phenoms like Connor Bedard or Connor McDavid play at age 40, it’s unlikely they’ll go as far as Ovi. 900 goals is a record from another galaxy.

Ovechkin himself does not need the ceremony – he has already survived hundreds of cameras. The league needs her. To show that she knows how to appreciate heroes, and not just make money from them. In the meantime, it seems that the NHL is simply afraid to single out the Russian. Too political? Too uncomfortable? But Ovechkin is not an official, but a player. A player who became a symbol of hockey for millions.

Alexander Ovechkin / Photo: © Patrick Smith / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Even if the league remains silent, the stands will not remain silent. Capital One Arena will explode. The fans will sing, scream, cry, just like those nights when he lifted the Stanley Cup. And even if the NHL doesn’t hold an official ceremony, Ovechkin will have his own. Without fanfare, without bureaucracy, but with the main thing – with the true love of people.

And when Alexander Ovechkin scores his 900th goal, the entire hockey world will understand: we live in the time of a legend. Even if the league pretends not to notice.