Is Ovechkin the 5th best player of all time?

[Midnight Judges]

Yeah, I already know how you consider Lafleur, Dionne, Gretzky, Kurri, and Goulet inferior top competition...

Aside from Gretzky, none of those players did anything in terms of goal scoring that rises above Ovechkin's competition.

Stamkos has 4 adjusted 50 goal seasons. Bossy has 2.

Stamkos's peak season adjusts to 68 goals. Bossy's is 58.

Stamkos's second highest peak adjusted season is 56. Bossy's is 52.

Stamkos has 7 adjusted 40 goal seasons. Bossy has 8.

Stamkos has 6 adjusted 45 goal seasons. Bossy has 7.

Bossy vs Stamkos is a good comparison.

The entirety of your flawed conclusion stems from a failure to account for the fact that the scoring environment in the 1980s was vastly different than the modern era.

 

[VistamarCroissants]

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.

That he's not even the 5th best Russian NHLer of all time line of yours destroyed all credibility of your posts.

An own goal. Big L

 

[Midnight Judges]

and how you always ignore Bossy’s defensive responsibilities on the Islanders—he was never given full, unfettered reign to rifle as many shots on net as possible, hence why he never led the league in shots, was only top 5 three times in ten seasons, and crossed 300 just three times as well.

Ah yes, if only Ovechkin had the disadvantage of...playing on one of the greatest dynasties of all time.

 

[Video Nasty]

Ah yes, if only Ovechkin had the disadvantage of...playing on one of the greatest dynasties of all time.

Mockery doesn’t make a valid point vanish. Bossy was expected to play a more responsible, complete two-way game than someone like Ovechkin, which he did, while still potting what he did. We saw what happened the couple of times Washington tried it and it wasn’t pretty.

 

[Midnight Judges]

Mockery doesn’t make a valid point vanish. Bossy was expected to play a more responsible, complete two-way game than someone like Ovechkin, which he did, while still potting what he did. We saw what happened the couple of times Washington tried it and it wasn’t pretty.

I wasn't mocking you. I just find it impossible to imagine that playing with Bryan Trottier and Dennis Potvin puts Bossy in a worse position than Ovechkin playing with Backstrom and Carlson.

It is a fair point that Bossy had more defensive responsibility. It just comes nowhere remotely close to making up the enormous difference between ten adjusted 50 goal seasons and two, or 9 goal scoring titles vs 2, or 868 goals vs 574, or 3 Harts vs none, or 3 Pearsons vs none.

 

[Acallabeth]

Yeah, I already know how you consider Lafleur, Dionne, Gretzky, Kurri, and Goulet inferior top competition—here’s where you race in to tell me how many times he would have led without them without getting the point—than what Ovechkin had to run through when he started piling them up from 2013-2014 through 2018-2019, and how you always ignore Bossy’s defensive responsibilities on the Islanders—he was never given full, unfettered reign to rifle as many shots on net as possible, hence why he never led the league in shots, was only top 5 three times in ten seasons, and crossed 300 just three times as well.

With merely a non-neutered Stamkos around, it’s easy to envision Ovechkin’s nine Rockets crumbling to five. That’s just one guy.

Make no mistake, Bossy wasn't Gretzky's goal scoring competition. He never came anywhere remotely close to Gretzky's single season totals and the only time he outscored prime Wayne was when Kurri led the league in goals on Gretzky's 163 assists (so that win isn't exactly indicative of their abilities in comparison).

Prime Bossy also has a season right between his 2 'Rockets' when he got outscored by Danny Gare, Charlie Simmer and Blaine Stoughton - whoever those guys were, they don't look like fierce competition (maybe I'm missing something).

And, once again, Bossy playing better 2-way hockey actually favors his scoring, as superior 2-way game allows players to attack more and have more chances. It's not like Ovechkin skates circles on the blue line when the puck is in his zone or increases his scoring in some other way.