How to prepare the NHL for the record target of Ovechkin: Ovicast, a travel caravan and Gretzky in the building

The itinerant caravan is officially hitting the road with Alex Ovechkin now within reach of the record of all time of the NHL for career objectives.

The commissioner of the NHL Gary Bettman and other staff of the Senior League will be present for the Washington Capitals-Carolina Hurricanes match on Wednesday in Raleigh, NC, and plan to participate in each of the left games of Washington until Wayne Gretzky beats the record of Wayne Gretzky.

Gretzky is expected to be there, just like Gordie Howe when he passed the witness on March 23, 1994.

Ovechkin is Four goals away From the current record of Gretzky with eight capital matches remaining for him to obtain the goal n. 895 before the end of this regular season. This includes three games at the Capital One Center, starting from Friday’s visit from the Chicago Blackhawks and five on the road.

For the NHL, which has spent months prepare for the culmination of the “GR8 chase”, this is a central moment. The League meticulously mapped the production elements that will accompany the record and tried to plan any contingency, up to the possibility that the goal is subject to a video review challenge.

Among those who expect to accompany the Ovechkin Tour live there are members of the player’s family, including his wife, Nastya, who was at the TD Garden of Boston on Tuesday to see her husband mark the career goal n. 891, together with a healthy contingent from the capital and the NHL. Former teammate Nicklas Bäckström recently told journalists that he would go on the road to any game where the record could fall.

“As we all know, he can score a hat -trick when he wants,” said Bäckström.

When this season started, there was a little skepticism on the possibility that Ovechkin, now 39, could score the 42 goals necessary for history. The possibilities that happened appeared considerably less likely when he suffered a Frattured Left Fibula in November that put it aside for 16 games.

Still, here we are.

“What he did is remarkable”, Gretzky said in December. “Listen, it’s good for sport, it’s fantastic for the game, and I hope I am there to tighten my hand at the night to beat the record.”

Only nine players in the history of the NHL have overcome the League in a career goal since 1917.

The three who have held that cloak in the last 73 years are considered historical legends of this sport. The record of objectives of all time was claimed by Maurice Richard in 1952 and then moved to Howe in 1963 and Gretzky in 1994.

Tuesday, the NHL announced that Espn and TNT would each produce an overdrix for all their remaining capital transmissions. This will present an isolated camera on Ovechkin together with the traditional game feed.

In total, there are 10 other cameras in each building while chasing the record.

The NHL plans include to allow capital players to free the bench and celebrate with ocechkin on ice when binding the record. When it breaks it, the game will be delayed for a formal celebration and a ceremony. This will happen independently for how long it remains on the clock or how important the game for the opponent of the capital could be due to the historical meaning of this result, according to the sources of the League.

If Ovechkin had beaten the record during one of his two games released in the Ubs Arena of the New York Icelander, for example, it could cause an interruption to a game with direct playoff implications. The islanders have stumbled in recent times for a Jolly point of the Eastern Conference but remain mathematically alive.

Although there is no indication that the capital will test in time exactly where and when where the record beats, the NHL asked for a warning if the team decides not to dress it for a game along the stretch due to all the extra elements involved in the preparation for the moment.

There is a historical precedent for that type of move.

Hank Aaron was playing for the Atlanta Braves when he linked the home record of all the baseball times in Cincinnati on the opening day of the 1974 season, and marked the following game at the Riverfront Stadium before hitting the record humerus eventually after the Braves returned home for a series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

When Gretzky was chasing Howe’s record in March 1994, with the man nicknamed “Mr. Hockey” and Gretzky’s parents, Walter and Phyllis, among those who followed, did not draw the drama.

Gretzky scored twice in San Jose on March 20 to also pull with Howe before getting the record in the next match of Los Angeles Kings at the Great Western Forum against Vancouver Canucks on March 23. He had a network wide open from behind the Canucks goalkeeper Kirk Mcclean after taking a cross passage from Marty McSorley on the race.

On this day 27 years ago, Wayne Gretzky beat the record of all time for the objectives marked with 802.

If it seems a lot, it is because it is. @Geico | #Geicorewind pic.twitter.com/ronqcssmhw

– Kings (@lakings) 23 March 2021

The in-game ceremony, on-the to commemorate the result, included Bettman and lasted about 15 minutes.

While Gretzky has foreseen at the beginning of this season which will be difficult for Ovechkin to keep his emotions under control while the attention on the record is intensified-“it is human, it will become a little nervous towards the end,” said Gretzky in December-there is a growing sense of inevitability for research with Ovechkin if not having more than three games among the objectives during the entire campaign 2024.

“I think it will get it this year,” said the former capital coach Barry Trotz Atletico lately. “It is one of those guys who when blocking something, will end up. It will probably have 100 shots from now until the end of the season.

“The disc will be very popular.”

Even with many eyes that look.

(Photo above: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)