Oh boy - somebody just scored their 53rd goal of the season. Only needs 13 more with 18 games left (including the current one). Here's hoping he doesn't make it!
This wouldn't bother me a bit. 0% of what makes Ovi amazing has to do with him getting 65 goals once. It's that
he's averaged 45 a year for 18 years. There's really only one guy who's ever done that despite the fact that the league's been around a century with thousands of players trying their damnedest to score goals. And that other guy didn't come close to doing it as consistently -- he scored the vast majority of his goals over a decently long stretch, but had many years where his goal-scoring prowess was nothing special.
The even more amazing thing is the nature of his consistency and durability; that he was that incredible that consistently with no major injuries despite being one of the most physical forwards in the game. Nothing about that last sentence should be true. Those three ideas -- being that physically dominant, that offensively gifted, and never getting injured -- shouldn't go together. It's a stunning achievement.
Gretzky will be the first guy to tell you to never say never. No one was ever going to break his record, and then this guy happened. But what Ovi has done and more specifically
the way he's done it? I'm pretty comfortable saying never. No one will ever be that physical, that durable, and that offensively potent again. Never.
Does McDavid topping Ovi's 1-season best mean anything? McDavid would be amazing playing anywhere and with anyone, but that's an offense that leverages him perfectly. I'm not sure Ovi has ever really had that, and certainly not after Semin. McDavid's Semin is better and isn't going anywhere, and that's helpful. Ovi's gift is more specific. He's less dynamic. He's a specialist; McDavid is a wizard.
Let McDavid string together 10-12 years of big goals and no injuries, then there'll be a conversation worth having. Until then, Ovi is literally in a class by himself.
