Washington Capitals ticket prices soar high as Alex Ovechkin inches closer to Wayne Gretzky's historic NHL record

Alex Ovechkin is widely regarded as as one of hockey’s greatest goal-scorers. With 886 regular-season goals to his name already, Ovi is now just nine goals away from surpassing the great Wayne Gretzky's seemingly untouchable mark of 894 goals.

Gretzky, who broke the previous record back in 1994 has since staked claimed as the NHL's most accomplished goalscorer. But with Ovechkin now within touching distance, the frenzy surrounding his chase is reportedly driving up ticket prices for Washington Capitals games.

According to the Washington Times Sports, ticket prices at Capital One Arena have skyrocketed. Resale platforms like StubHub and SeatGeek have seen prices double, while TickPick’s head of content, Kyle Zorn, predicts an even bigger spike as Ovechkin approaches the milestone,

"When it becomes clear that he’ll have the opportunity to break the record, I imagine the cheapest ticket will be in the $450-$500 range, but it could easily push into the $700 or $800 territory."

Capitals home games have always been a draw with Ovechkin on the ice, but this final chapter of his chase is adding a historic weight to every shift he takes.

---

Wayne Gretzky's ex-teammate weighs in on hype surrounding Alex Ovechkin's goal record chase

Los Angeles Kings president Luc Robitaille was there to experience first hand the hype that surrounded Wayne Gretzky as he chased down Gordie Howe's previous record of most goals scored by an NHL skater.

Gretzky's teammate across eight seasons, Robitaille was incidentally the one who assisted Gretzky as he scored his 802nd goal career goal to set the new record back in March, 1994.

A Hockey Hall of Famer turned NHL exec, Robitaille weighed in on Ovechkin's record chase 31 years on.

"It's amazing. "Everyone is calling. No matter what, everybody wants to see the game. I think everybody wants to be in the building seeing him live. When he's that close to a record, there's a buzz around him coming into town," said Robitaille.

Robitaille, further drew parallels between the two as he shared the buzz around Gretzky as he inched closer to the all-time scoring title. Robitaille recalled,

"Every building we were going to, everybody was talking about it... Gordie was around. It was amazing. We knew we were going to be part of history, and we knew that was one of those that's like, 'Wow, it's incredible.' The beauty of those is you know it's coming. You don't know when and how, but you know it's coming."

Ovi will resume his hunt for the all-time NHL goal scoring record again when the Capitals take on the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.