Is Ovechkin the 5th best player of all time?

Is Ovechkin the 5th best of all time?

  • Yes he is

    Votes: 39 11.6%
  • No he is not (please specify)

    Votes: 265 78.6%
  • I think Ovechkin is #4 or better

    Votes: 9 2.7%
  • I had a bad day and regret reading these options

    Votes: 24 7.1%

  • Total voters
    337

authentic

Registered User
Jan 28, 2015
26,410
11,405
4 years of Ovi’s prime was the most exciting and entertaining hockey performance by single player I have seen, Crosby or McDavid are phenomenal but Ovi in his prime was on higher level, I don’t know were he should be ranked on all-time scale, these rankings are extremely subjective, I just know that watching Ovi in 2007-2010 was the most fun I ever had from watching NHL game

Yeah I would say he was probably the most entertaining player at his peak, especially if you take his personality off the ice into account, always giving funny answers and acting goofy instead of your typical boring responses and showing no emotion or excitement.
 

Golden_Jet

Registered User
Sep 21, 2005
26,308
13,624
Well he’s coming up on 900 goals in the lowest scoring era.

While playing for one of the best regular season.

And he’s barely plus 50.

How do you even attempt to explain that without him being shit at defense?

Which by the way, his own coach Bruce Boudreau agrees.
That’s not the worst 🤣
Still waiting for an explanation as the worst you’ve ever seen, or maybe you haven’t seen much hockey.
Sounds more like an OV hater since your a Pens fan.
 

Midnight Judges

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Feb 10, 2010
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Well he’s coming up on 900 goals in the lowest scoring era.

While playing for one of the best regular season teams.

And he’s barely plus 50.

How do you even attempt to explain that without him being shit at defense?

Which by the way, his own coach Bruce Boudreau agrees.

Sidney Crosby's goals against per game and per minute are pretty much the same as Ovechkin's for most of their careers. Actually Sid's are worse in the playoffs.
 

kevsh

Registered User
Nov 28, 2018
3,670
5,143
Of course the comparisons to Crosby are expected, and stats, stats and more stats.

I'll go with a purely hypothetical that anyone honest knows the answer to: If you took an anonymous (or not) survey of every NHL GM of the past 15-20 years and ask if they'd rather have had Sid or Ovi on their team, take the total number of GMs minus the number of GMs Washington has had in that time period and that's the number that would pick Crosby. Maybe even one or two of them, considering it's anonymous.

So at the very least, if you have Ovi in the top 5 then Sid is in the top 4. And that means one of Howe, Lemieux, Gretzky or Orr get bumped out. And that's just a hard no.

Top 10? Sure, gets my vote. And unless he really, really finishes his career strong and Sid's game goes off a cliff right now, today, highly unlikely Ovechkin tops him. And so far, about 78% of the people in this poll agree.
 

winnipegger

Registered User
Dec 17, 2013
8,545
7,608
Bure, Panarin, Malkin, Kucherov and Kaprizov have all scored at a higher rate than Ovechkin.

So he's not even the 5th best Russian NHLer of all time, not to mention all the Soviet players who have never stepped foot on NHL ice.

This entire thread only makes sense if you add the 5th best goal scorer as a qualifier.

We're not talking about rate. Even mentioning Panarin in the same breath as ovi is blasphemous. Ovechkin had a better peak than any of those players and let me know how many will still be elite at their position at 39 years old.
 

Albatros

Registered User
Aug 19, 2017
13,821
9,131
Ostsee
We're not talking about rate. Even mentioning Panarin in the same breath as ovi is blasphemous. Ovechkin had a better peak than any of those players and let me know how many will still be elite at their position at 39 years old.
Peak scoring seasons being:

Kucherov 44+100=144
Panarin 49+71=120
Malkin 35+78=113
Ovechkin 65+47=112

Bure 60+50=110
Kaprizov 47+61=108

One can argue about context and whatnot, but nonetheless it's far from clear that Ovechkin comes out on top (or even top 3).
 

CokenoPepsi

Registered User
Oct 28, 2016
5,395
2,782
If Ovechkin actually finishes this season with 50+ goals and over 100 points things get interesting.

If he somehow someway finishes with 1000 goals?
 

Cats2TheCup

Registered User
Oct 27, 2011
2,777
2,142
Miami, Fl
There will be people in this thread that swear he’s unseating one of the Top 4 with a pretty decent argument to back it up. There will be people in this thread that have him outside the Top 15 with pretty decent argument to back it up.

But one thing is for sure. History will look more and more kindly upon Ovi as the years go on. He’ll finish with the 2nd or 3rd biggest trophy case, a slew of all time records, and will be plastered over NHL media for decades (if not longer) atop every list of any current player doing anything notable with respect to putting the puck into the net.

His final goal tally will be one of the 2 immortal numbers in hockey. That kind of legacy only gains power over time.
The best take in this entire thread
 
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um

Registered User
Sep 4, 2008
16,111
6,083
toronto
Peak scoring seasons being:

Kucherov 44+100=144
Panarin 49+71=120
Malkin 35+78=113
Ovechkin 65+47=112
Bure 60+50=110
Kaprizov 47+61=108

One can argue about context and whatnot, but nonetheless it's far from clear that Ovechkin comes out on top (or even top 3).
No it's pretty clear.

Only Kucherov has a chance, but he's still got a lot of catching up to do. One MVP and two Ross's ain't gonna cut it.
 

moropanov

Registered User
Mar 7, 2015
646
378
If comparing Pure hockey ability skills and level as a player i think there's no question that Ovy's worse player/has been worse on average through his career than players like Teemu Hartikainen or Nikita Gusev Victor Tikhonov Petri Kontiola Linus Omark etc typic players on average. But ofc he has feats/career achievements.. so its Hard to compare. Maybe reasonably he would be in top 100_200 players 2000's until nowadays if comparing merits and ability overall compared. But in my opinion if rating is done on based on pure ability as a player i would say top 2000_5000. Player. Hard to say where he would fall around those categories but somewhere between those.
 

joestevens29

Registered User
Apr 30, 2009
54,061
17,184
Not ahead of Crosby and I love ovechkins game

4 years of Ovi’s prime was the most exciting and entertaining hockey performance by single player I have seen, Crosby or McDavid are phenomenal but Ovi in his prime was on higher level, I don’t know were he should be ranked on all-time scale, these rankings are extremely subjective, I just know that watching Ovi in 2007-2010 was the most fun I ever had from watching NHL game
Lol no but I get it you can’t afford coffee to watch mcdavid
 

thadd

Oil4Life
Jun 9, 2007
26,863
2,919
Canada
Wayne
Howe
Lemiuex
Crosby
Borque
Lidstrom
Brodeaur
Hasek
Roy
Bossy
Pronger
Messier
Yzerman
Sakic
Bergeron
Pocket Rocket
Orr
P. Esposito

I take all of those players over Ovechkin just off the top of my head.

Now if you want to ask me where he ranks in terms of best goal scorers all time?

I take Bossy over him for sure. You guys can debate over who else deserves to be ranked in front of Ovechkin in terms of best goal scorer of all time.
 
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Midnight Judges

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Feb 10, 2010
14,422
11,370
Wayne
Howe
Lemiuex
Crosby
Borque
Lidstrom
Brodeaur
Hasek
Roy
Bossy
Pronger
Messier
Yzerman
Sakic
Bergeron
Pocket Rocket
Orr
P. Esposito

I take all of those players over Ovechkin just off the top of my head.

Now if you want to ask me where he ranks in terms of best goal scorers all time?

I take Bossy over him for sure. You guys can debate over who else deserves to be ranked in front of Ovechkin in terms of best goal scorer of all time.

Mike Bossy led the NHL in goals 2 times. Ovechkin did it 9 times.
 

Video Nasty

Registered User
Mar 12, 2017
5,725
9,957
Wayne
Howe
Lemiuex
Crosby
Borque
Lidstrom
Brodeaur
Hasek
Roy
Bossy
Pronger
Messier
Yzerman
Sakic
Bergeron
Pocket Rocket
Orr
P. Esposito

I take all of those players over Ovechkin just off the top of my head.

Now if you want to ask me where he ranks in terms of best goal scorers all time?

I take Bossy over him for sure. You guys can debate over who else deserves to be ranked in front of Ovechkin in terms of best goal scorer of all time.

I’m enjoying the ever growing respect of Mike Bossy. Wipes the floor with Ovechkin as a complete talent.

Mike Bossy led the NHL in goals 2 times. Ovechkin did it 9 times.

Ovechkin had zero competition for the award. He’s lucky his one main threat, Stamkos, was neutered early on, because Ovechkin would likely have no more than five Rockets in that alternate timeline.
 

Plural

Registered User
Mar 10, 2011
33,839
5,025
I don't think he is and I don't think there will ever be compelling enough of an argument that I'd change my mind. I would not be easily persuaded to think Crosby is top-5 and he's better than Ovechkin.

But, as time goes by Ovechkin might experience the Bobby Hull effect. His totals are upper end Hall of Fame and goal totals are insane. He has the Hart trophies and Conn Smythe. As time goes by, his resume will look very flattering and unless you dig a bit deeper and/or also remember the time he actually played, there is a chance that quite a lot of people will think of him as a top-5 all-time player or at least a strong candidate for it.
 

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