Gretzky’s drop off after the 1991 back injury was pretty significant. He won the Art Ross once after that injury, but never had another Gretzky-like year again. He wasn’t ever the same after that Canada Cup.
His production dropped by 40 points between the ‘91 season and the ‘92 season.
That's right. Two things happened to him at once in autumn 1991 -- one was his father's aneurysm (Oct. 13, 1991), which was nearly fatal and pulled Gretzky away from the game for a week or two, and probably left him less focused on hockey the early part of that season. The other of course was the Suter hit, which -- so I think -- exacerbated the first back-injury he'd had over a year earlier, in April 1990 (playoffs game three), when Steve Smith nailed him hard into the boards from behind (Gretzky left that game and missed the Kings' last game of that season).
Gretzky still ended up 2nd in PPG in 1991-92 (to Mario), but he was not himself anymore. The first three years in L.A. his ES + Shorthanded points were:
115 - 1989 (78 games)
102 - 1990 (73 games)
104 - 1991 (78 games)
and then in 1992:
67 - 1992 (74 games)
It was also the first season in his career he posted a minus rating (despite having played on a losing team three times previously).
Then, in 1992-93, he played only the second half of the season, and at that he was rushed back prematurely because the Kings had entered a slump. They got hot near the end of the season, and had that surprising run to the Finals... but the team was falling apart.
In 1993-94, Gretzky was superb in the first 24 games of the season (12 goals, 37 assists, 49 points, 'even' plus/minus rating), but the Kings were already heading into the crapper by then. Then, the last 57 games (26 goals, 55 assists, 81 points, -25 rating) he was rather poor by his standard. I think once he broke the Howe goals record in March (?) 1994, he pretty much mailed in the last 10 games or so of that season (still won the scoring title, though).
So, in a sense 1991-92 and 1992-93 are "lost" seasons, and 1993-94 was the end-point of his Kings' era. But all those are his 'post-prime' seasons.
Ovechkin is sitting in a great situation now that he's a veteran but his team is strong and stable. He doesn't have off-ice distractions that I'm aware of, and his team/management seem competent. The trend of the League now towards softer play and higher scoring might benefit his final numbers.
Still, 265-or-whatever-it-is goals is A LOT for someone at his age. I mean, Peter Forsberg didn't score that many goals his entire
career.