Oshie had no doubt Ovechkin would become NHL goal King

Capitals forward T.J Oshie has had a front row seat to NHL history during his time in Washington.

Oshie joined the Caps as an unrestricted free agent prior to the 2015-16 season as his teammate and Capitals legend Alex Ovechkin was approaching the 500-goal plateau for his career.

As he watched Ovechkin surpass milestone after milestone, he knew that Wayne Gretzky’s NHL goal record of 894 goals was well within reach.

“Every time he reached a milestone, you realized it’s just going to go higher,” Oshie told TSN1050’s First Up on Friday. “You learn when people ask if he was going to [break Gretzky’s record] after all those different milestones, at some point I realized he was going to do it.

“He was going to do it on his time, could be fast, could be slower, there could be ups and downs, but I never thought he wasn’t going to be able to get there.”

Ovechkin surpassed Gretzky’s record on April 6 and now has 897 goals and counting as he enters his 21st season in the NHL.

Oshie was correct in his prediction of there being ups and downs in the process as Ovechkin was coming off the worst offensive season of his NHL career entering the 2024-25 campaign. The Moscow, Russia, native recorded 31 goals and 65 points in 79 games in 2023-24, which were his lowest scoring totals in a non-shortened NHL season.

However, rumours of his regression were exaggerated after he recorded 44 goals and 73 points in 65 games this season, overcoming a broken leg in the process. His production helped the Capitals to the best record in the Eastern Conference at 51-22-9 and the team’s 10th division title during Ovechkin’s tenure.

Oshie was impressed by the class that Ovechkin showed after breaking the NHL’s goal record, thanking his teammates, organization, and family before giving credit to himself.

Those actions aren’t surprising to his teammate of 10 seasons, who has watched him grow a championship culture in Washington.

“He’s an absolute one-of-a-kind human being. He’s a great teammate, leader, friend, and obviously goal scorer,” said Oshie. “I can’t tell you how many guys who’ve bounced around and different teams and couldn’t fit in anywhere come here and he put them under his wing. All of a sudden, they then open up and become another part of our culture.

“He has an incredible amount of respect within the room and the guys love him. No one will come in and say a bad word about Ovie.”

Unfortunately for Oshie, he had to watch Ovechkin break the record from afar this season after he stepped away in order to deal with a chronic back issue.

He sustained the injury during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs and said that he didn’t start feeling better until April of this year after undergoing a small procedure in January.

Being away from the team was hard on Oshie, especially with the Caps performing at a high level and history being made on the ice.

“From being a professional athlete to feeling like that was pretty tough,” said Oshie. "Not being around the guys in the room and not getting that competitiveness out of you was pretty hard.

“To see the Capitals do so well was great, but I felt like I was missing out on a great team.”

Oshie has not made any definitive plans on his hockey future, but his season off gave him an opportunity to see what retirement could look like.

The 38-year-old was able to participate in his four children’s events for the fist time and even brought a friend in for help.

“I coached my fifth-grade daughter’s basketball team with [fellow long-term injured Capital] Nicklas Backstrom as my assistant coach,” said Oshie. “I got to experience some really cool things I’ve never been able to. So, while it was a tough year not playing, it was a great year with the family."

Oshie also took a stab at a job in front of the camera, joining Mark Messier, P.K. Subban, and Steve Levy on ESPN’s NHL playoff coverage.

While Oshie has done hundreds of interviews throughout his career, he was nervous for his first time as an analyst, but he says he grew into the role.

“I didn’t know what is was going to be like and that’s why I wanted to try it out,” said Oshie. “I didn’t know if I’d like it or if people would like to see me on air. It was really nerve racking, but they made me feel so comfortable and by the time [we were done] I had just started feeling comfortable and wanted to do more.”