In 1961, baseball player Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth’s single season home run record of 60. But Maris’s record came at a time when the baseball season was 162 games, while Ruth’s season was 154 games. So, the powers-that-be added at the time added an asterisk to Maris’s record to note that he had extra games to get the record.
As Alex Ovechkin is aiming to break Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal record, there will be no asterisks no matter what happens, as it’s widely known that Gretzky’s era had goalies made out of Swiss Cheese.