“He was already a rock star”: his pre-draft interview left an impression on this Quebec scout

“He arrived with his jeans ripped. At the time, not many people wore that. He had his big smile…no buck teeth. I remember, he was already a rock star.”

This is what Martin Pouliot, scout for the Washington Capitals for 25 years, told me.

He still remembers this meeting between Ovechkin and the Capitals staff very well. It was him or Malkin. “One or the other, let’s say we wouldn’t have been wrong,” he laughs.

“Malkin was the playmaker with golden hands. He was a big guy. But for us, it was unanimous. We wanted to go there with the marker. Everyone has been waiting for him since he was 14,” he continues.

“Bear” parents

Ovechkin’s family history also favored him, recalls the scout. His mother, a former basketball player, has two Olympic gold medals. His father was a soccer player. Parents with “bear” looks, it seems. And that resulted in a little Alex, 6’3″ and 240 lbs. “It’s so massive,” says Martin Pouliot.

Did he expect he would one day break Wayne’s record?

“I never would have thought. Gretzky was too dominant in his time.”

The difference is that he doesn’t miss games, in his opinion. “He takes the pain. Sometimes he doesn’t score for 10 games and everyone wonders why. It could be because he has an injury. But he doesn’t complain. He’s going to play anyway.”

He wants to beat him and will beat him

The Quebec scout simply can’t believe what he is still capable of doing at 39 years old. “Everyone knows where it fits and it still works.”

If this record could, in my opinion, represent a distraction for the Capitals, who were supposed to take a nosedive in the standings, Martin Pouliot is happy to tell me that the exact opposite is happening.

“Our good start to the season is a little linked to that. The guys are enthusiastic. When he scores, everyone is happy. […] Ovechkin is focused. I tell you: he wants to beat the record. And he’s going to beat him.”