Ovi? The Great One? Actually, Red Wings Mr. Hockey Still Hockey’s Best Goal Scorer

There was a quiet irony involving the Detroit Red Wings that took place on Sunday.

As Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin was scoring his 895th NHL goal to surpass Wayne Gretzky as the NHL’s all-time regular-season goal scorer, the date was also the anniversary of another milestone goal.

On April 6, 1980 Gordie Howe was playing for the Hartford Whalers. That day he would score the 801st and final regular-season goal of his 26-season NHL career. This was the total that Gretzky would ultimate overtake.

Making that moment even more unique, Howe scored the goal in a 5-3 win over the Red Wings. Rogie Vachon was the victim of the final regular-season goal goal. That meant that both Howe’s first (Turk Broda) and last NHL goals were scored against a future Hall of Fame goalie. In fact, even his last regular-season goal for the Red Wings in 1971 was tallied past a Hall of Famer, Tony Esposito of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Howe Scored One Goal Against Red Wings

Oddly enough, of Howe’s 801 goals, that was the only one he ever would score against the Red Wings. Of course, he scored 786 regular-season goals for Detroit. In the process, he became the first player in NHL history to surpaass the 600 and 700-goal plateaus.

Ovechkin may had overtaken Howe and Gretzky in the NHL record book, it turns out he’s still got a ways to go if you he wants Howe’s mark as the No. 1 goal scorer in major professonal hockey history.

Gordie Howe was there to watch Wayne Gretzky break his NHL Points record. But Mr. Hockey was not present when the Great One scored his 802nd goal as Gordie counted his WHA goals in his all time totals. He was adamant about this and told me this during a book tour for ‘and…Howe!’ pic.twitter.com/1jqL7hDlCa

— Joe Pascucci (@Pascucci015) April 5, 2025

The NHL may still be reluctant to acknowledge that the WHA existed, but the fact of the matter is that it did for seven seasons as a rival to the NHL. And in six of those seven seasons, Howe was among the WHA’s best players.

He’s scored 174 goals with the rival league. Added together, that’s giving Mr. Hockey a grand total of 975 major pro regular-season goals.

Even if you factor in Ovechkin’s 55 goals scored while playing in Russia’s top league, that still only gives him 950 goals. Gretzky scored 46 WHA goals, giving him 940 major pro goals.

Any way you slice it, Mr. Hockey still rules as the game’s greatest goal scorer.