Alexander Ovechkin is one of the greatest goal scorers in the history of the National Hockey League. He has spent his entire career with the Washington Capitals where he became a legend.
Ovechkin currently has 827 career goals which is just 67 goals behind the all-time mark set by Wayne Gretzky. The problem is that the 38-year-old Ovechkin only has five goals right now and we are mid-way through December.
We are used to having Ovechkin well over 20 goals by this point in the season but that hasn't been the case. He needs to get going again if he wants to end up breaking the record.
He is slumping hard right now. It has been 11 games since he scored. All hope is not lost but he needs to find that spark again.
Alex Ovechkin needs to start scoring goals for the Washington Capitals again
On Thursday night against the Philadelphia Flyers, Ovechkin seemed to have a little bit of extra pep in his step. It looked like that might be the game where he finally got back on the board but it never happened.
There is the obvious worry that he is slowing down to the point where he won't be able to pass Gretzky's all-time mark. However, some things could be done in an attempt to get him going again.
For one, he might not be a good winger for Dylan Strome. It might be time to try something new there. He spent a lot of his career with Nicklas Backstrom or Evgeny Kuznetsov as his center but those options aren't available right now. It is up to them to find the right fit.
Washington's power play is also terrible so getting that going might help Ovechkin. He is an incredible shooter from "his office" which is a tool that could get him scoring goals again.
Every hockey fan wants to see Ovechkin do this. He has been a Hall of Fame talent throughout his career and is now considered to be one of the greatest hockey players who ever lived.
Don't lose faith in Ovechkin just yet. We've seen him score goals in bunches before and history tells us that he will break out of this slump.