Much has changed over the course of Alex Ovechkin's career, including the record books.
The Washington Capitals star is expected to rewrite those very soon when he scores his 895th career goal to become the NHL's all-time leading scorer by breaking the record long held by Wayne Gretzky.
That historic goal will take place nearly 20 years after Ovechkin scored the first goal of his NHL career, which came during his debut on October 5, 2005.
Let's take a look at just how different things were back when Ovechkin scored that first goal compared to when he is on the brink of becoming the league's all-time leading scorer.
Ovechkin's age:
2005 - 20
2025 - 39
Ovechkin's teammates:
2005 - Dainius Zubrus, Jeff Halpern, Brian Willsie, Jamie Heward, Olaf Kolzig
2025 - Dylan Strome, Aliaksei Protas, John Carslson, Tom Wilson, Logan Thompson
Reigning champions:
2005 - The 2004-2005 NHL season was canceled due to a lockout, but the 2003-2004 champion was the Tampa Bay Lighting; San Antonio Spurs; Boston Red Sox, New England Patriots
2025 - Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia Eagles
Reigning NHL MVP:
2005 - The 2004-2005 NHL season was canceled due to a lockout. The previous season's Hart Memorial Trophy winner as MVP was Martin St. Louis of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
2025 - Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche
U.S. President
2005 - George W. Bush
2025 - Donald Trump
Donald Trump
2005 - Star of the reality television show “The Apprentice”
2025 - U.S. president
Popular TV shows
2005 - "Desperate Housewives," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "American Idol," "Deal or No Deal"
2025 - "Severance," "White Lotus," "Adolescence," "Daredevil: Born Again"
Top Billboard song
2005 - "Gold Digger" by Kanye West
2025 - "Luther" by Kendrick Lamar and SZA
Top Movie in theaters
2005 - "Flightplan"
2025 - "A Working Man"
2005 - 5,663
2025 - 1
2005 - 4.02 million
2025 - 220.6 million
Reigning Best Actress and Actor at Academy Awards
2005 - Hilary Swank ("Million Dollar Baby") and Jamie Foxx ("Ray")
2025 - Mikey Madison ("Anora") and Adrien Brody ("The Brutalist")
Average price of gas
2005 - $2.27
2025 - $3.13
2005 - $1.26
2025 - $4.95
2005 - $243,900
2025 - $414,500
NHL's highest paid player
2005 - Jaromir Jagr, New York Rangers ($8.36 million)
2025 - Auston Matthews, Toronto Maples Leafs ($13.25 million)
Sports Illustrated cover
2005 - Ronnie Belliard of the then Cleveland Indians
2025 - New York Mets
Popular cell phone
2005 - Motorola RAZR V3
2025 - iPhone 16 Pro Max
Cell phones used for…
2005 - Calling people. Text messages were also becoming popular.
2025 - Everything (and occasionally calling people)
Popular Apple products
2005 - iPod, Mac Mini, iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano
2025 - iPhone, Apple Watch, Airpods, MacBook Air
Popular social media platform
2005 - MySpace
2025 - TikTok
Amazon stock price
2005 - $2.36
2025 - $178.41
LeBron James' career points total
2005 - 1,654
2025 - 42,000+
Tom Brady's career passing yards
2005 - 15,097
2025 - 89,214
Dallas Cowboys’ championships
2005 - 5
2025 - 5
Here are five things to know about Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin.
