BackToTheBasics
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- Dec 26, 2013
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Here’s my ranking of Alexander Ovechkin’s 19 NHL seasons. This is inspired by a thread made by @Hockey Outsider several years back where he broke down each of Jaromir Jagr’s 24 NHL seasons.
THE GREATS:
1. 2008 (82 GP, 65 G + 47 A = 112 pts, Art Ross, Rocket, Hart, Pearson, 1st-team all-star)
Following a disappointing sophomore campaign in which Ovechkin’s production fell off across the board, Ovechkin came roaring back and lived up to the potential that he showed in his rookie season. The Capitals got off to a poor start to the season losing 15 of 21 games before the Capitals' front office finally made a coaching change to hire Bruce Boudreau to replace Glen Hanlon. Under his leadership, he instilled a more suitable offensive-oriented system for the Capitals’ young core of Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin, and Green. Ovechkin posted the best goal-scoring season of his generation scoring 65 goals which, at the time, was the highest goalscoring season since 1996 only surpassed 16 years later by Auston Matthews. He outscored his next closest teammate – a rookie Nicklas Backstrom – by 43 points and scored 39 more goals than Semin who finished with 26 goals on the season. He swept all of the major awards for the season becoming the first player to win all 4 (Hart, Rocket, Art Ross, Pearson). However, it is worth noting the NHL only started awarding the Rocket Richard Trophy in 1999.
2. 2010 (72 GP, 50 G + 59 A = 109 pts, 2nd in scoring, Lindsay, Hart Finalist, 1st-team all-star)
This was a chaotic season for Ovechkin. He started the season absolutely on fire scoring 42 goals and 89 points in his first 53 games. It looked like we were seeing Ovechkin reach an even higher level than he played during his masterful ’08 season. He was far ahead of the rest of the league scoring at a 1.65 PPG and 0.79 GPG clip which would have put him on pace for 65 goals and 135 points over 82 games. He had 9 points more than 2nd leading scorer Henrik Sedin. It seemed certain that he would run away with the Art Ross and Rocket Richard leading the league in both goals and points again. Then the Olympics came and a disappointing loss to Russia’s rival Canada in the quarterfinals seemed to demoralize Ovechkin. One can only assume that the disappointment of losing in the Olympics caused the dip in Ovechkin’s play once NHL action resumed. His production fell off considerably as he scored only 10 goals and 20 points in his final 19 games of the season. Ovechkin missed 4 games due to suspension and 6 to injury. He received a 2-game suspension during the season's final weeks, which were a detriment to his chase for another Ross and Rocket trophy. He still led the league in GPG, PPG, and finished 2nd in points helping the Capitals capture their first Presidents Trophy. In the playoffs, the Montreal Canadiens led by Jaroslav Halak pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NHL history coming back to beat the Capitals in 7 games after being down 3-1 in the series. Ovechkin had a good series scoring 5 goals and 5 assists in 7 games. Unfortunately, the depth that helped the Capitals dominate the regular season was nowhere to be found when the season was on the line.
3. 2009 (79 GP, 56 G + 54 A = 110 pts, 2nd in scoring, Hart, Pearson, Rocket, 1st-team all-star)
Early on in the season, Ovechkin did not look like himself. He scored only 2 goals and 5 points in his first 9 games. After missing 3 games following the passing of his grandfather, Ovechkin returned and picked up where he left off in the previous season scoring 54 goals and 107 points in his next 70 games. He led the league in goals and PPG while finishing 2nd in points. He also recorded the 2nd most shots in a season in NHL history with 528 shots which further shows how much of a force he was on the ice. Once again, Ovechkin was only a handful of games played from potentially sweeping every major award for what could have been 3 straight seasons - something that has only been done by a select few. Ovechkin won the Hart by a landslide beating out a healthy prime Malkin, Crosby, and Datsyuk. He also had a tremendous playoff run scoring 11 goals and 21 points in 14 games. It would have been nice to see if Ovechkin at his peak could have made a run at the playoff goal-scoring record had the Capitals not collapsed in game 7 to the Penguins in the 2nd round.
THE VERY GOOD:
4. 2006 (81 GP 52 G + 54 A = 106 pts, 3rd in scoring, 6th in Hart voting, Pearson finalist, Calder, 1st-team all-star)
Ovechkin did not take long to take the NHL by storm putting up one of the best rookie seasons of all time. Looking at this season, Ovechkin did not have much to work with at all. His linemates primarily consisted of Dainius Zubrus, Chris Clark, and Jeff Halpern. In Chris Clark’s 2 seasons of playing with Ovechkin, he scored nearly half of his career NHL goal total. Playing with such mediocre talent did not stop Ovechkin from making his mark on the league finishing 3rd in scoring and being voted as a finalist for the Pearson award by his peers. He also beat out a strong class of rookies including Sidney Crosby, Henrik Lundqvist, and Dion Phaneuf in voting for the Calder trophy garnering 124 out of 129 1st place votes.
5. 2015 (81 GP 53 G + 28 A = 81 pts, 4th in scoring, 2nd in Hart voting, Lindsay finalist, Rocket, 1st-team all-star)
Following a slow start to the season, in part due to luck as well as adapting to new coach Barry Trotz’ more structured system, Ovechkin found his groove playing at his normal position at LW once again and went on a heater as he scored 38 goals and 54 points in his final 48 games. I feel like this is one of Ovechkin’s more underrated seasons. He led the league in goals with 53 scoring 10 more than the runner-up. It was also the 2nd highest goalscoring season from any player not named Ovechkin for 14 seasons (2008-2021). He was back to tilting the ice in his teams’ favor to a large degree at ES which hadn’t been the case since his peak years. It is true, that no player had a great standout season, however, looking at the surrounding seasons (2014-2017), it is still arguably a top 5-10 season during that period. He scored 74 primary points which placed him in a tie for 2nd from 2014-2017. He was unlucky only recording 7 secondary assists. A big reason for that is due to the wingers he played with at 5v5 (Johansson, Beagle, and Wilson) and how the Capitals now deployed Ovechkin on the PP as primarily a shooter. In the end, he finished 2nd in Hart voting with the most votes by a skater and 4th in points.
6. 2013 (48 GP 32 G + 24 A = 56 pts, 3rd in scoring, Hart, Lindsay Finalist, Rocket, 1st-team all-star)
Adam Oates replaced Dale Hunter as head coach. Aside from forbidding players from playing on their offside, his primary goal was to try to get Ovechkin to return to form as a goal-scorer so he placed him at right wing. This was the beginning of turret Ovechkin as he was turned into one of the most prolific scoring threats the game has ever seen on the PP thanks to the guidance of Adam Oates. Following a slow start, Ovechkin scored 23 goals and 36 points in his final 23 games during the 48-game lockout-shortened campaign. Before this stretch, the Capitals found themselves 29th in the league destined to be a lottery team. Ovechkin’s resurgence willed his team to the playoffs winning 17 of their final 23 games to clinch the Southeast division. There was and continues to be a lot of controversy surrounding his Hart win but if we go by the definition of the award, he was the most valuable player to his team and they would have been in the lottery had it not been for his resurgence. He had a poor playoff performance, the worst of his career scoring 1 goal in 7 games against the Rangers. He did have a hairline fracture in his foot for the final 2 or 3 games of the series but it remains a poor performance overall.
7. 2018 (82 GP 49 G + 38 A = 87 Pts, 11th in scoring, 9th Hart voting, Rocket, 3rd-team all-star, Conn-Smythe)
Ovechkin returned to form following a poor performance in the previous season (2017) by his standards winning his 7th Rocket Richard, tying him with Bobby Hull for the most all-time. With the rise of scoring around the league, he scored the most points in a season since his final peak season in 2010. In the playoffs, Ovechkin factored in on several key goals including scoring 2 goals in game 6 eliminating Columbus, scoring the GWG in game 3 against the Penguins, a primary assist on the GWG in game 5 against the Penguins, stealing the puck from Crosby and feeding Kuznetsov for a GWG in OT to eliminate the Penguins, scoring the game-winning goal against Tampa in game 7, and scoring in the final game against Vegas. There were many deserving candidates for the Conn Smythe and Ovechkin had as strong of an argument as anyone. He led the playoffs in goals with 15 tying him with Crosby for the most goals in a playoff season since 1997.
THE GOOD:
8. 2016 (79 GP 50 G + 21 A = 71 pts, 15th in scoring, 6th Hart voting, Rocket, 2nd-team all-star)
We get to another one of Ovechkin’s more underappreciated seasons. On the surface, it looks like Ovechkin is on the decline. Sure, he scored 50 once again remaining the league's only 50 goal-scorer, but now he dipped below a PPG for only the 2nd time in his career. His underlying stats weren’t any worse than the previous season. He only managed to record 5 PP assists which remains by far his lowest total over a full season and also only scored 6 primary assists which is also the lowest total in his career. This suggests that he was simply unlucky. His GF% for the season at 5v5 was 63.8%, the 2nd highest in his career. He also led the league in both ES goals and PP goals for the first time since 2008.
9. 2019 (81 GP 51 G + 38 A = 89 pts, 15th in scoring, 7th in Hart voting, Rocket, 1st-team all-star)
At the start of the season, it looked like Ovechkin was going for another 60+ goal season scoring 29 goals in his first 32 games. He slowed down quite a bit only scoring 22 goals over his final 49 games. It was still a solid season for Ovechkin coming off a Stanley Cup win. He won the Rocket for the 8th time in his career surpassing Bobby Hull for most all-time. He had a great series against the Hurricanes in round 1 scoring 4 goals and 5 assists in 7 games. Unfortunately, the Capitals returned to their old ways blowing a 2-0 series lead and losing in game 7 at home in OT.
10. 2020 (68 GP 48 G + 19 A = 67 pts, 15th in scoring, Rocket, 3rd-team all-star)
This is a tough season to rank. Ovechkin scored at a higher rate at ES and 5v5 than he has since his early peak goal-scoring seasons, leading the league with 35 ES goals in only 68 games. When you look at his +/- and his assist totals, it makes you wonder. He still seemed to be a similar player as the previous 2 seasons. The only difference was that his oiSV% was the lowest it had been in his career at a pathetic 87.7%. His low assist total also seems like bad luck as he had half as many PP and ES assists from the previous season and his 5v5 oiSH% dropped from 11.8% in the surrounding seasons (’19, ’21, ’22) to 9.3%.
11. 2022 (77 GP 50 G + 40 A = 90 pts, 16th in scoring, 10th in Hart voting)
Ovechkin’s start to this season has to be one of the most impressive performances in his career. At age 36, Ovechkin had more of a burden to carry with Backstrom being injured to start the season along with Mantha and Oshie missing significant time. Through January 23rd, Ovechkin led the league in goals, points, ES goals, and ES points. It looked like he was about to have his own ’06 Jagr type of season. Unfortunately, he lost steam and finished the season with “only” 50 goals and 90 points. This would be his final 50-goal season tying him with Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky for most such seasons with 9. He also reached 90 points for the first time since 2010.
12. 2011 (79 GP 32 G + 53 A = 85 pts, 7th in scoring, 2nd-team all-star)
This was Ovechkin’s first season where it seemed he was starting to decline. His goal total plummeted and he had the lowest sh% in his career (8.6%). His point totals dropped from 109 to 85, a 24-point difference. Most people attribute this falloff to a wrist injury and considering this is still one of his worst goalscoring seasons to date, he must have been dealing with something. Even still, Ovechkin finished 7th in scoring and 6th in assists. That is not bad for a guy who has been deemed one-dimensional. It seems like he can adapt and become more of a passer when his scoring isn’t there. Despite his decline in production, he was still a guy who tilted play for his team when he was on the ice, just not nearly to the same degree as he did in years prior. If someone emphasizes balanced scoring, I could see this season moving higher up the list. However, I have it ranked here because of how disappointing it was relative to expectations.
13. 2007 (82 GP 46 G + 46 A = 92 pts, 13th in scoring, 1st-team all-star)
After such a great rookie season, this season was quite disappointing. Semin did come over from the RSL but the rest of the supporting cast was still brutal. Ovechkin was in the top 10 in scoring for a large portion of the season even being a distant 2nd in scoring as late as Feb 10th but his production tailed off to end the season. Again, this season could be listed higher if one places more value on how good of a player Ovechkin was. However, considering the expectations following his rookie season and how his season ended, I think this is a decent area to place it.
14. 2014 (78 GP 51 G + 28 A = 79 pts, 8th in scoring, Rocket, 2nd-team all-star)
The infamous -35 season for Ovechkin. I considered placing this in the mediocre section but it’s difficult to put a Rocket winning season in which he led over 2nd place by 8 goals and finished top 10 in points as mediocre. This is another year where his play in the latter half of the season fell off. At the Olympic break, he had 40 goals and 60 points in 55 games, a 60-goal and 89 pt pace. His oiSV% was the lowest it had been during the lower-scoring era of his career. His 5v5 oiSH% dropped from ~9% in the surrounding seasons to 6.1%. He was unlucky but you have to acknowledge that he didn’t play his most inspired defense that season. His line was outscored 61 to 35 at 5v5 which is just unacceptable.
THE MEDIOCRE:
15. 2017 (82 GP 33 G + 36 A = 69 pts, 20th in scoring, 3rd-team all-star)
This was not a good season for Ovechkin. His shot totals were down, he received 2 minutes less ice time than previous seasons, and his sh% was down ~2-3% from his norm. The Capitals won the Presidents trophy for the 2nd straight season. They did not need Ovechkin as much as they had in the past because of how deep the team was. That may be part of the reason his ice time was limited and he was also potentially limited by playing through a wrist injury which others have speculated. To Ovechkin’s credit, he put up his highest assist total since 2011. The Capitals ended up losing in the 2nd round once again. Ovechkin had a poor performance in the post-season, although he did injure his hamstring early in the first round after a dirty hit by Kadri and played through it.
16. 2023 (73 GP 42 G + 33 A + 75 pts, T-40th in scoring)
This was an unfortunate season for Ovechkin. He started the season on fire as he blew past Howe on the all-time goal-scoring list for 2nd all-time. Through 54 games, it seemed like the Ovechkin we were accustomed to seeing. He was on pace for another 50-goal season and top 20 in scoring. His father passed away a few weeks later, and Ovechkin understandably missed some time. Once he returned to the Capitals, you could tell he was not all there. He dealt with some more injuries that he played through but ultimately held him out for several games near the end of the season as the Capitals missed the playoffs for only the 4th time in his career. Despite these hardships, he still scored the most goals in a season by a 37-year-old.
17. 2012 (78 GP 38 G + 27 A = 65 pts, 37th in scoring)
Ovechkin was subpar this season. Part of that had to do with Dale Hunter putting Ovechkin in a suboptimal role which wasn’t conducive to productive offensive hockey. To Ovechkin’s credit, he bought in and played a grinder-type role like he was asked at the cost of his offensive output. He still managed to finish 5th in goal-scoring showing that he still could be a top goal-scorer in the league despite his best years being behind him at this stage in his career. It’s tough to judge his post-season here. Given his role, he did score some timely goals for the Capitals who were a tough out due to their playstyle. It ultimately was a mediocre performance.
18. 2021 (45 GP 24 G + 18 A = 42 pts T-64th in scoring)
A rare Ovechkin season shortened due to injury. One of his weaker seasons at ES although his overall production was similar to what he had been doing in recent years. He went scoreless as he played through the last several games with an injury which makes his final stat line appear lesser.
THE BAD:
19. 2024 (79 GP 31 G + 34 A = 65 pts T-72nd in scoring)
Ovechkin started the season looking completely cooked. After scoring only 8 goals in his first 43 games, it looked like his time was coming to an end. Gretzky’s record now looked safe and it seemed like it might be time for Ovechkin to consider retirement at season's end. Then the all-star break arrived at the perfect time, one trip to Dubai and a camel ride or two later and Ovechkin was back! It seemed like he was playing through an injury after all. His skating seemed to have improved and his shot was lethal once again. He saved his season scoring 22 goals in his final 35 games. Is that enough to save this from still being a bad season? I’m not sure. Considering his age, it was still a very productive season but a clear step down from the rest. It gives hope for a comeback season should he remain healthy.
THE GREATS:
1. 2008 (82 GP, 65 G + 47 A = 112 pts, Art Ross, Rocket, Hart, Pearson, 1st-team all-star)
Following a disappointing sophomore campaign in which Ovechkin’s production fell off across the board, Ovechkin came roaring back and lived up to the potential that he showed in his rookie season. The Capitals got off to a poor start to the season losing 15 of 21 games before the Capitals' front office finally made a coaching change to hire Bruce Boudreau to replace Glen Hanlon. Under his leadership, he instilled a more suitable offensive-oriented system for the Capitals’ young core of Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin, and Green. Ovechkin posted the best goal-scoring season of his generation scoring 65 goals which, at the time, was the highest goalscoring season since 1996 only surpassed 16 years later by Auston Matthews. He outscored his next closest teammate – a rookie Nicklas Backstrom – by 43 points and scored 39 more goals than Semin who finished with 26 goals on the season. He swept all of the major awards for the season becoming the first player to win all 4 (Hart, Rocket, Art Ross, Pearson). However, it is worth noting the NHL only started awarding the Rocket Richard Trophy in 1999.
2. 2010 (72 GP, 50 G + 59 A = 109 pts, 2nd in scoring, Lindsay, Hart Finalist, 1st-team all-star)
This was a chaotic season for Ovechkin. He started the season absolutely on fire scoring 42 goals and 89 points in his first 53 games. It looked like we were seeing Ovechkin reach an even higher level than he played during his masterful ’08 season. He was far ahead of the rest of the league scoring at a 1.65 PPG and 0.79 GPG clip which would have put him on pace for 65 goals and 135 points over 82 games. He had 9 points more than 2nd leading scorer Henrik Sedin. It seemed certain that he would run away with the Art Ross and Rocket Richard leading the league in both goals and points again. Then the Olympics came and a disappointing loss to Russia’s rival Canada in the quarterfinals seemed to demoralize Ovechkin. One can only assume that the disappointment of losing in the Olympics caused the dip in Ovechkin’s play once NHL action resumed. His production fell off considerably as he scored only 10 goals and 20 points in his final 19 games of the season. Ovechkin missed 4 games due to suspension and 6 to injury. He received a 2-game suspension during the season's final weeks, which were a detriment to his chase for another Ross and Rocket trophy. He still led the league in GPG, PPG, and finished 2nd in points helping the Capitals capture their first Presidents Trophy. In the playoffs, the Montreal Canadiens led by Jaroslav Halak pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NHL history coming back to beat the Capitals in 7 games after being down 3-1 in the series. Ovechkin had a good series scoring 5 goals and 5 assists in 7 games. Unfortunately, the depth that helped the Capitals dominate the regular season was nowhere to be found when the season was on the line.
3. 2009 (79 GP, 56 G + 54 A = 110 pts, 2nd in scoring, Hart, Pearson, Rocket, 1st-team all-star)
Early on in the season, Ovechkin did not look like himself. He scored only 2 goals and 5 points in his first 9 games. After missing 3 games following the passing of his grandfather, Ovechkin returned and picked up where he left off in the previous season scoring 54 goals and 107 points in his next 70 games. He led the league in goals and PPG while finishing 2nd in points. He also recorded the 2nd most shots in a season in NHL history with 528 shots which further shows how much of a force he was on the ice. Once again, Ovechkin was only a handful of games played from potentially sweeping every major award for what could have been 3 straight seasons - something that has only been done by a select few. Ovechkin won the Hart by a landslide beating out a healthy prime Malkin, Crosby, and Datsyuk. He also had a tremendous playoff run scoring 11 goals and 21 points in 14 games. It would have been nice to see if Ovechkin at his peak could have made a run at the playoff goal-scoring record had the Capitals not collapsed in game 7 to the Penguins in the 2nd round.
THE VERY GOOD:
4. 2006 (81 GP 52 G + 54 A = 106 pts, 3rd in scoring, 6th in Hart voting, Pearson finalist, Calder, 1st-team all-star)
Ovechkin did not take long to take the NHL by storm putting up one of the best rookie seasons of all time. Looking at this season, Ovechkin did not have much to work with at all. His linemates primarily consisted of Dainius Zubrus, Chris Clark, and Jeff Halpern. In Chris Clark’s 2 seasons of playing with Ovechkin, he scored nearly half of his career NHL goal total. Playing with such mediocre talent did not stop Ovechkin from making his mark on the league finishing 3rd in scoring and being voted as a finalist for the Pearson award by his peers. He also beat out a strong class of rookies including Sidney Crosby, Henrik Lundqvist, and Dion Phaneuf in voting for the Calder trophy garnering 124 out of 129 1st place votes.
5. 2015 (81 GP 53 G + 28 A = 81 pts, 4th in scoring, 2nd in Hart voting, Lindsay finalist, Rocket, 1st-team all-star)
Following a slow start to the season, in part due to luck as well as adapting to new coach Barry Trotz’ more structured system, Ovechkin found his groove playing at his normal position at LW once again and went on a heater as he scored 38 goals and 54 points in his final 48 games. I feel like this is one of Ovechkin’s more underrated seasons. He led the league in goals with 53 scoring 10 more than the runner-up. It was also the 2nd highest goalscoring season from any player not named Ovechkin for 14 seasons (2008-2021). He was back to tilting the ice in his teams’ favor to a large degree at ES which hadn’t been the case since his peak years. It is true, that no player had a great standout season, however, looking at the surrounding seasons (2014-2017), it is still arguably a top 5-10 season during that period. He scored 74 primary points which placed him in a tie for 2nd from 2014-2017. He was unlucky only recording 7 secondary assists. A big reason for that is due to the wingers he played with at 5v5 (Johansson, Beagle, and Wilson) and how the Capitals now deployed Ovechkin on the PP as primarily a shooter. In the end, he finished 2nd in Hart voting with the most votes by a skater and 4th in points.
6. 2013 (48 GP 32 G + 24 A = 56 pts, 3rd in scoring, Hart, Lindsay Finalist, Rocket, 1st-team all-star)
Adam Oates replaced Dale Hunter as head coach. Aside from forbidding players from playing on their offside, his primary goal was to try to get Ovechkin to return to form as a goal-scorer so he placed him at right wing. This was the beginning of turret Ovechkin as he was turned into one of the most prolific scoring threats the game has ever seen on the PP thanks to the guidance of Adam Oates. Following a slow start, Ovechkin scored 23 goals and 36 points in his final 23 games during the 48-game lockout-shortened campaign. Before this stretch, the Capitals found themselves 29th in the league destined to be a lottery team. Ovechkin’s resurgence willed his team to the playoffs winning 17 of their final 23 games to clinch the Southeast division. There was and continues to be a lot of controversy surrounding his Hart win but if we go by the definition of the award, he was the most valuable player to his team and they would have been in the lottery had it not been for his resurgence. He had a poor playoff performance, the worst of his career scoring 1 goal in 7 games against the Rangers. He did have a hairline fracture in his foot for the final 2 or 3 games of the series but it remains a poor performance overall.
7. 2018 (82 GP 49 G + 38 A = 87 Pts, 11th in scoring, 9th Hart voting, Rocket, 3rd-team all-star, Conn-Smythe)
Ovechkin returned to form following a poor performance in the previous season (2017) by his standards winning his 7th Rocket Richard, tying him with Bobby Hull for the most all-time. With the rise of scoring around the league, he scored the most points in a season since his final peak season in 2010. In the playoffs, Ovechkin factored in on several key goals including scoring 2 goals in game 6 eliminating Columbus, scoring the GWG in game 3 against the Penguins, a primary assist on the GWG in game 5 against the Penguins, stealing the puck from Crosby and feeding Kuznetsov for a GWG in OT to eliminate the Penguins, scoring the game-winning goal against Tampa in game 7, and scoring in the final game against Vegas. There were many deserving candidates for the Conn Smythe and Ovechkin had as strong of an argument as anyone. He led the playoffs in goals with 15 tying him with Crosby for the most goals in a playoff season since 1997.
THE GOOD:
8. 2016 (79 GP 50 G + 21 A = 71 pts, 15th in scoring, 6th Hart voting, Rocket, 2nd-team all-star)
We get to another one of Ovechkin’s more underappreciated seasons. On the surface, it looks like Ovechkin is on the decline. Sure, he scored 50 once again remaining the league's only 50 goal-scorer, but now he dipped below a PPG for only the 2nd time in his career. His underlying stats weren’t any worse than the previous season. He only managed to record 5 PP assists which remains by far his lowest total over a full season and also only scored 6 primary assists which is also the lowest total in his career. This suggests that he was simply unlucky. His GF% for the season at 5v5 was 63.8%, the 2nd highest in his career. He also led the league in both ES goals and PP goals for the first time since 2008.
9. 2019 (81 GP 51 G + 38 A = 89 pts, 15th in scoring, 7th in Hart voting, Rocket, 1st-team all-star)
At the start of the season, it looked like Ovechkin was going for another 60+ goal season scoring 29 goals in his first 32 games. He slowed down quite a bit only scoring 22 goals over his final 49 games. It was still a solid season for Ovechkin coming off a Stanley Cup win. He won the Rocket for the 8th time in his career surpassing Bobby Hull for most all-time. He had a great series against the Hurricanes in round 1 scoring 4 goals and 5 assists in 7 games. Unfortunately, the Capitals returned to their old ways blowing a 2-0 series lead and losing in game 7 at home in OT.
10. 2020 (68 GP 48 G + 19 A = 67 pts, 15th in scoring, Rocket, 3rd-team all-star)
This is a tough season to rank. Ovechkin scored at a higher rate at ES and 5v5 than he has since his early peak goal-scoring seasons, leading the league with 35 ES goals in only 68 games. When you look at his +/- and his assist totals, it makes you wonder. He still seemed to be a similar player as the previous 2 seasons. The only difference was that his oiSV% was the lowest it had been in his career at a pathetic 87.7%. His low assist total also seems like bad luck as he had half as many PP and ES assists from the previous season and his 5v5 oiSH% dropped from 11.8% in the surrounding seasons (’19, ’21, ’22) to 9.3%.
11. 2022 (77 GP 50 G + 40 A = 90 pts, 16th in scoring, 10th in Hart voting)
Ovechkin’s start to this season has to be one of the most impressive performances in his career. At age 36, Ovechkin had more of a burden to carry with Backstrom being injured to start the season along with Mantha and Oshie missing significant time. Through January 23rd, Ovechkin led the league in goals, points, ES goals, and ES points. It looked like he was about to have his own ’06 Jagr type of season. Unfortunately, he lost steam and finished the season with “only” 50 goals and 90 points. This would be his final 50-goal season tying him with Mike Bossy and Wayne Gretzky for most such seasons with 9. He also reached 90 points for the first time since 2010.
12. 2011 (79 GP 32 G + 53 A = 85 pts, 7th in scoring, 2nd-team all-star)
This was Ovechkin’s first season where it seemed he was starting to decline. His goal total plummeted and he had the lowest sh% in his career (8.6%). His point totals dropped from 109 to 85, a 24-point difference. Most people attribute this falloff to a wrist injury and considering this is still one of his worst goalscoring seasons to date, he must have been dealing with something. Even still, Ovechkin finished 7th in scoring and 6th in assists. That is not bad for a guy who has been deemed one-dimensional. It seems like he can adapt and become more of a passer when his scoring isn’t there. Despite his decline in production, he was still a guy who tilted play for his team when he was on the ice, just not nearly to the same degree as he did in years prior. If someone emphasizes balanced scoring, I could see this season moving higher up the list. However, I have it ranked here because of how disappointing it was relative to expectations.
13. 2007 (82 GP 46 G + 46 A = 92 pts, 13th in scoring, 1st-team all-star)
After such a great rookie season, this season was quite disappointing. Semin did come over from the RSL but the rest of the supporting cast was still brutal. Ovechkin was in the top 10 in scoring for a large portion of the season even being a distant 2nd in scoring as late as Feb 10th but his production tailed off to end the season. Again, this season could be listed higher if one places more value on how good of a player Ovechkin was. However, considering the expectations following his rookie season and how his season ended, I think this is a decent area to place it.
14. 2014 (78 GP 51 G + 28 A = 79 pts, 8th in scoring, Rocket, 2nd-team all-star)
The infamous -35 season for Ovechkin. I considered placing this in the mediocre section but it’s difficult to put a Rocket winning season in which he led over 2nd place by 8 goals and finished top 10 in points as mediocre. This is another year where his play in the latter half of the season fell off. At the Olympic break, he had 40 goals and 60 points in 55 games, a 60-goal and 89 pt pace. His oiSV% was the lowest it had been during the lower-scoring era of his career. His 5v5 oiSH% dropped from ~9% in the surrounding seasons to 6.1%. He was unlucky but you have to acknowledge that he didn’t play his most inspired defense that season. His line was outscored 61 to 35 at 5v5 which is just unacceptable.
THE MEDIOCRE:
15. 2017 (82 GP 33 G + 36 A = 69 pts, 20th in scoring, 3rd-team all-star)
This was not a good season for Ovechkin. His shot totals were down, he received 2 minutes less ice time than previous seasons, and his sh% was down ~2-3% from his norm. The Capitals won the Presidents trophy for the 2nd straight season. They did not need Ovechkin as much as they had in the past because of how deep the team was. That may be part of the reason his ice time was limited and he was also potentially limited by playing through a wrist injury which others have speculated. To Ovechkin’s credit, he put up his highest assist total since 2011. The Capitals ended up losing in the 2nd round once again. Ovechkin had a poor performance in the post-season, although he did injure his hamstring early in the first round after a dirty hit by Kadri and played through it.
16. 2023 (73 GP 42 G + 33 A + 75 pts, T-40th in scoring)
This was an unfortunate season for Ovechkin. He started the season on fire as he blew past Howe on the all-time goal-scoring list for 2nd all-time. Through 54 games, it seemed like the Ovechkin we were accustomed to seeing. He was on pace for another 50-goal season and top 20 in scoring. His father passed away a few weeks later, and Ovechkin understandably missed some time. Once he returned to the Capitals, you could tell he was not all there. He dealt with some more injuries that he played through but ultimately held him out for several games near the end of the season as the Capitals missed the playoffs for only the 4th time in his career. Despite these hardships, he still scored the most goals in a season by a 37-year-old.
17. 2012 (78 GP 38 G + 27 A = 65 pts, 37th in scoring)
Ovechkin was subpar this season. Part of that had to do with Dale Hunter putting Ovechkin in a suboptimal role which wasn’t conducive to productive offensive hockey. To Ovechkin’s credit, he bought in and played a grinder-type role like he was asked at the cost of his offensive output. He still managed to finish 5th in goal-scoring showing that he still could be a top goal-scorer in the league despite his best years being behind him at this stage in his career. It’s tough to judge his post-season here. Given his role, he did score some timely goals for the Capitals who were a tough out due to their playstyle. It ultimately was a mediocre performance.
18. 2021 (45 GP 24 G + 18 A = 42 pts T-64th in scoring)
A rare Ovechkin season shortened due to injury. One of his weaker seasons at ES although his overall production was similar to what he had been doing in recent years. He went scoreless as he played through the last several games with an injury which makes his final stat line appear lesser.
THE BAD:
19. 2024 (79 GP 31 G + 34 A = 65 pts T-72nd in scoring)
Ovechkin started the season looking completely cooked. After scoring only 8 goals in his first 43 games, it looked like his time was coming to an end. Gretzky’s record now looked safe and it seemed like it might be time for Ovechkin to consider retirement at season's end. Then the all-star break arrived at the perfect time, one trip to Dubai and a camel ride or two later and Ovechkin was back! It seemed like he was playing through an injury after all. His skating seemed to have improved and his shot was lethal once again. He saved his season scoring 22 goals in his final 35 games. Is that enough to save this from still being a bad season? I’m not sure. Considering his age, it was still a very productive season but a clear step down from the rest. It gives hope for a comeback season should he remain healthy.
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