Alex Ovechkin hits 700 career NHL goals!

Kuznetsnow

Registered User
Nov 26, 2019
2,180
2,373
53, 69, 51, 68, 64, 60, 51, 58, 61,( 38 in 63 games)
Bossy played 10 years. Go ahead you can even cherry pick Ovechkin's best 10.

Bossy best there has ever been AINEC

I'm trying to cherrypick the ones where leaguewide save percentage was in the mid 80s like in Bossy's time but it's really hard, could you help.
 

HurricaneFanatic

Registered User
Jan 16, 2020
694
551
Ovechkin is a freak. Potential for 50 goals at age 34, Gretzky had slowed way down by that age.

Still wonder how many goals Gretzky would have had if not for his back injury in early 90s. Avoiding major injury is the main thing Ovi has going for him.
 

Dondini

Registered User
Apr 28, 2010
3,367
2,811
Lol @ bossy being a better goal scorer than ovechkin. And that’s no offense to Mike. He was an amazing goal scorer and one of the best. But it’s not even close. Era adjustment for one. 8 rockets for ovy, how many times did bossy lead the league in scoring 2? And before you say he had to compete with Gretzky let’s remember Ovechkin has a real shot at 894, in this era, with real goalies and real d men. In the 80s goals per game was close to 8. This era about 6. It’s really not even remotely close between the two
 
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Zuluss

Registered User
May 19, 2011
2,436
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53, 69, 51, 68, 64, 60, 51, 58, 61,( 38 in 63 games)
Bossy played 10 years. Go ahead you can even cherry pick Ovechkin's best 10.

Bossy best there has ever been AINEC

Too bad those raw totals do not look as impressive when even a #10 goal-scorer in the league scores around 46-48 goals, as he was scoring in Bossy years.

% leads over #10 in goals
Bossy 73-42-33-33-28-26-25-9-9
Ovechkin: 63-61-52-52-50-44-43-30-26-24-15-6

Sorry, man, outside of just one freak season Bossy gets blown out of the water. His 2nd-best season is not even Ovechkin's 7th-best.
 

Herregud

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Feb 7, 2010
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Washington, DC
^ while Ovi may pass Gretzky in goals, and that's still very much in question, Gretzky still greatest of all time for complete offense. Look at those assist numbers.
Imagine being good enough at something during your career that people try to tear you down constantly by comparing you to the most prolific offensive contributor in the history of your sport. Legitimately no one else has that going for them in this day and age, and I think that speaks volumes.

Something something "quality of his enemies" - Captain Kurt, Star Wars
 
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Jets4Life

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Dec 25, 2003
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Westward Ho, Alberta
Alex Ovechkin is 21 goals shy of his 700th goal, and 30 goals shy of passing Mike Gartner for 7th all-time!

Alex Ovechkin Stats and News

Washington faces Columbus on Monday. Ovechkin has not scored in the last two games.

Washington Capitals - Columbus Blue Jackets - December 16th, 2019

07. Mike Gartner (708)

08. Mark Messier (694)
09. Steve Yzerman (692)
10. Mario Lemieux (690)
11. Teemu Selanne (684)
12. Alex Ovechkin (679)
13. Luc Robitaille (668)


My prediction: Ovechkin has 51 goals this season, and his totals will be 709 by the end of the season, putting him in 7th place overall. He now has 689 at the time of this post, one less than Mario Lemieux. At 34, Ovechkin shows no sign of slowing down, and if he can once again hit the 50 goal mark in 2020-21, he may be within striking distance of Gretzky's 894, especially if he plays until age 40.
 

HurricaneFanatic

Registered User
Jan 16, 2020
694
551
Imagine being good enough at something during your career that people try to tear you down constantly by comparing you to the most prolific offensive contributor in the history of your sport. Legitimately no one else has that going for them in this day and age, and I think that speaks volumes.

Something something "quality of his enemies" - Captain Kurt, Star Wars
I have nothing against Ovi. I think he's amazing, and the fact he's in these discussions is a credit to him.
 
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ALLCAPSALLTHETIME

Great Dane! Love that Eller feller.
Oct 10, 2009
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British Columbia, Canada
^ while Ovi may pass Gretzky in goals, and that's still very much in question, Gretzky still greatest of all time for complete offense. Look at those assist numbers.

I don’t think anyone would argue that. Gretzky is still the greatest goal scorer, play maker and offensive force of all time in the NHL.

If Ovie keeps it up, I think a very strong argument could be made for him to be the greatest goal scorer of all time. Long way to go, though.
 

RorschachWJK

Registered User
Dec 28, 2004
4,941
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Too bad those raw totals do not look as impressive when even a #10 goal-scorer in the league scores around 46-48 goals, as he was scoring in Bossy years.

% leads over #10 in goals
Bossy 73-42-33-33-28-26-25-9-9
Ovechkin: 63-61-52-52-50-44-43-30-26-24-15-6

Sorry, man, outside of just one freak season Bossy gets blown out of the water. His 2nd-best season is not even Ovechkin's 7th-best.

Pwned :laugh:
 
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Artorius Horus T

sincerety
Nov 12, 2014
19,133
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Congrats from hat-trick.
700 is really big achievemant. (not far away)

Highly doubtfull thou that he ever reaches the next mark, 800.
He is super exceptional Russian born player, but he'll be 35 when the next season starts
and 35 has been very influental age for Russian born NHL:ers so far. For example,
Sergei Fedorov was still awesome at 34, but affter turning 35, not so much.

Even Fetisov dropped after 34, thou due to a lock out shortened season, he rejuvinated for (or two) one season
at 37 (38) in the NHL. (but he played 15 years in Russia prior to NHL, for obvious reasons)

Pavel Datsyuk started to decline after 35
Alexei Kovalev was still great 35, but dropped after that
Alexander Mogilny's game dropped at 34
Slava Kozlov's game dropped at 33
Pavel Bure retired at 32 (not the same situation thou)
Alexei Yashin retired at 32 (not the same situation thou)
 

smokingwriter

Registered User
Apr 21, 2018
128
58
It's a puzzle why a player whose game is so predictable, has nonetheless been able to dominate for so long. Since 2010, his overall game has really shriveled. But he still has that great shot, even if he doesn't drive play as he once did, and as long as NHL assistant coaches (mostly a dumb lot) never figure out how to take away his one-timer from the left face-off circle, he'll keep scoring goals while being a boat anchor and a minus player. Sadly, I could see him being rated ahead of Crosby in the future because of the raw totals, but anyone who has watched both men a couple hundred times knows that Crosby is the greater player - even if he lacks that one, singular, outlier talent that Ovechkin possesses (his shot).

But it is a devastating singular talent, and don't be shocked if he surpasses Gretzky. I could definitely see him threatening the 50-goal barrier a couple more times after this year, too. It will ultimately come down to this: does he have a stubborn decline, or will he fall off a cliff? Right now, I think it will be relatively stubborn, and even 35-goal seasons at this juncture are going to make the Wayner start to sweat - especially if Ovechkin decides to play into his 40s a la Joe Thornton.
 
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smokingwriter

Registered User
Apr 21, 2018
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I don’t think anyone would argue that. Gretzky is still the greatest goal scorer, play maker and offensive force of all time in the NHL.

If Ovie keeps it up, I think a very strong argument could be made for him to be the greatest goal scorer of all time. Long way to go, though.
Gretzky's not the greatest goal-scorer of all-time.
 

Jack Be Quick

Hasek Is Right
Mar 17, 2011
4,785
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Brooklyn
May as well repost here:

He should finish with ~710 this season with no signs of slowing down at 34.

35 - 48
36 - 42
37 - 36
38 - 31
39 - 28

Not only do I think it's possible, I'm believing more and more each season that it's likely.
 
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Nsjohnson

Hockey.
Jun 22, 2012
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Ovechkin just keeps making me believe. He's been my favorite player since Foppa's prime.

I think he gets 50 this year, or just about, maybe 48. Either way, unless injury occurs, or he just REALLY lets himself go, he has the power and offensive IQ to keep playing until he is 40-42. You have to think he'll still have the shot, but will his hands drop off (even more)? Will his accuracy? His confidence or drive? Again, will he get injured? And if so will it affect him after recovery, will he still be having fun?

If his career stays simple, I think he really challenges Wayne for top all time. I think having Kuzy, Vrana, Wilson, around him helps, and Backstrom is the type of player that his hands are what they are- he will play for some time too. He may slow, but his IQ is incredible and his hands and passing will stay with him I think for a long time. All these factors help Ovechkin. They have some talent in the system too.

IF I DID THE MATH right at this hour, Ovechkin may have 708 goals if he gets 50 this year.

That leaves him with 186 goals to tie Wayne.

If he plays at season ages 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, that is 6 seasons. He needs to average 31 goals a season then to tie the record. If he has a 50 and 40 goal season in him, then the next four seasons average drops to 24 a season until his age 40 season to tie Wayne. If he can score 50, and then 45, and then 40, it gets even easier. (708+50+45+40 = 843). I think that is going to be very hard.

Why? Because if you have watched Ovechkin this season, you start to notice little things that are dropping off. He has lost speed over the past 3 seasons (on top of the speed he has already lost). His puck handling is really dropping off. He seems mildly uninterested in the first half of the season. He isn't so passionate anymore. Now, I don't fault him for a single one of these things. But, it's the truth.

He can't dangle anymore. He may get lucky on a few poor defenseman, but his footspeed and hands have dropped off since he was in his 20's, which they do for everyone. Every year becomes more 'coverable' as player. That said, he is still scoring. So, I give him all the praise, and he is still scoring 5v5 too. But he's losing his hockey skills by simple aging. Lucky for him, his shot hasn't gone almost anywhere. He can't shoot quite like he could when he was 24- I remember some wristers of his from far out were impossibly fast. But his slapper is still deadly, albeit not 'quite' as fast- still faster than the human goalie eye can track.

It'll be really, really hard. But Ovechkin is also really, really good at scoring goals.

Like Mulder said, I want to believe.
 
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Zuluss

Registered User
May 19, 2011
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I don’t think anyone would argue that. Gretzky is still the greatest goal scorer, play maker and offensive force of all time in the NHL.

If Ovie keeps it up, I think a very strong argument could be made for him to be the greatest goal scorer of all time. Long way to go, though.

I personally never thought that Gretzky is the best goal-scorer ever. His goal-scoring prime was short compared to other all-time great goal-scorers - he won his last goal-scoring title at 26 and only finished top5/top10 in goals once since then.

In my view, the mantle of the best goal-scorer belonged to Bobby Hull for good 50 years - he has twice as many top3 finishes in goals as Gretzky, 2 more goal-scoring titles, and he finished top5 in goals for 13 years straight (well, there was one lapse when he finished 6th).

The only thing one can bring up against Bobby Hull is that he won his last goal-scoring title at 30 and his NHL career ended at 33 (he went to play in WHA). If those things bother you when compared to Richard's, Howe's, and Ovechkin's longevity, then Howe is your champion - he has as many goal-scoring titles as Gretzky (the last one came at the age of 34), but he has 12 top3 finishes in goals (to Gretzky's 5) and 19 top10 finishes, which is absolutely insane even in a 6-team league.

But somewhere around last season I got convinced that Ovechkin had surpassed both Howe and Bobby Hull - with his record-setting 8th goal-scoring title won at the age of 33, two more top3 finishes, and better margins of victory outside of peak three years. Again, if you are really into longevity, you might hold out a year or two to push Ovechkin past Howe as a goal-scorer, but I am past that tipping point.
 
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