Why Alex Ovechkin Could Break Wayne Gretzky's Scoring Record This Season

We may witness hockey history this season with Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin coming close to surpassing Wayne Gretzky with the most goals in NHL history.

The Russian winger is 21 goals away from breaking the record and with 37 games to go, the task is certainly doable. The odds for Ovechkin to do it is +172 on FanDuel and it's worth investigating if it could actually happen.

The Capitals are top three in offence with a 3.56 goals per game average, which means the unit around Ovechkin can help him continually produce for the time being.

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Washington has the fourth-easiest remaining strength of schedule with four of their last seven games of the season coming against teams that currently have a bottom four defence in the Penguins, Blackhawks and Blue Jackets twice.

He should get a solid opportunity to get hot towards the end of the season and could potentially break the record but sportsbooks don't think it'll happen. The odds heavily suggest that the record won't be broken till next season and begs the question of if this bet is worth taking.

EliteProspects has a current projection of 48 goals this season which would help him clear the record by six goals. This is certainly doable as Ovechkin has recorded 48 or more goals in 12 of his 20 NHL seasons.

I expect this bet to come down to the wire which could make it worth while to get in on this bet early at a small amount as if he keeps up with his current projections the odds could significantly drop.

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