John Kreiser

 NHL.com Managing Editor 

This Photo is capturing Wayne Gretzky’s final NHL game when they lost 2-1 in overtime to the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden.

Andrew Knoll

The New York Times

This photo was taken of Alex Ovechkin after he scored the 700th goal of his career and became the eighth player in the NHL to reach that amount of goals.  

Wayne Gretzky is idolized for many reasons but he is most known for being the highest goal scorer in the NHL with 894 goals between twenty seasons. This photo of his final game in the NHL, shows his team and fans cheering him on and celebrating his accomplishments. Alex Ovechkin is also a very accomplished and idolized player with time left in the NHL. He has scored 730 goals through sixteen seasons. He has also signed a contract to play five more seasons making him on target to become the number one goal scorer in the NHL. This photo shows Ovechkin and his fans celebrating his accomplishment by hitting the 700 goal mark. Both of these photos show fans cheering on the players but they are cheering them on for different reasons. Gretsky was being celebrated for all of his accomplishments during his time playing while Ovechkin was being cheered on for a goal that marked history and his journey to becoming the top NHL goal scorer. These are both very impactful and iconic images because it shows the achievements of both players. They would both be front-page stories but the differences of what each picture is representing impact the way that they are perceived. I think both of the images work well for what they were targeted for, but I think that the picture of Ovechkin works better because it shows that not only does he have the motivation to reach his goal, but his fans also have faith in him. The fan holding the picture of the  “700” sign in the background also describes what this image is about. Attributes that I would give to each image are both celebratory but for Gretsky it would be for his history in the league and for Ovechkin it would be for his future achievements still to come. Social media has become a predominant control over the way that sports are marketed. At the time the picture of Gretsky was taken, social media was not a popular way to advertise photos so it would have been in a magazine or newspaper. While at the time the picture of Ovechkin was taken, social media was able to highlight that milestone and fans were able to interact with it and feel closer to being in that moment. If both photos were released at the same time today, I believe that the best way to market them would be through Twitter. The reason is that Twitter can help grow the fan base and promote the team, letting fans interact with tweets.