Ovechkin is now halfway to Gretzky!

[Mulletman]

With a goal against the Stars Ovechkin now has 447 goals in the NHL. That's exactly half of what Gretzky scored. It took Ovechkin 9 and a ½ seasons, or actually 9 seasons if you count the 2012-13 lockout, to score 447. Ovechkin still has about 13 and a ½ season of hockey left so the question is, can he score another 447 goals to reach Gretzky? If not, how close will he come?

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[ViD]

if he can score 700 goals in his career, that will be an incredible achievement

 

[Laineux]

He's playing in a much lower scoring era too.

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

Great player, regardless of what people yell about him.

 

[ALLCAPSALLTHETIME]

That's crazy that he is only half way to Wayne.

Hockey strikes have hurt his production a little bit.

In 2004-05, if he had played (big if but possible) he might have got 30 goals. (No Calder trophy, though. )

The second moronic strike cost him 34 games. He scored 32 goals in 48 games. At that pace he would have scored about 55 goals so he lost about 23 goals. So 53 lost goals through no fault of his own.

So, he conceivably could have been on about 500 goals right now.

He currently has 6 years left on his contract. (2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21)

If he were to score 40 goals a season on average he'd end up with 740 goals. (1 behind Brett Hull for 3rd all time) If he were to play 5 more seasons and averaged 30 goals a season he'd end up with 890 goals. Still slightly behind Gretzky's 894.

That would have to include a lot of things going right as far as injuries go, of course. Also, I'm not sure he'll be able to sustain that kind of production. Plus, I have the feeling he'd like to play in Russia after his contract is up.

Without the 53 lost goals he'd be sitting on 837 goals which would 2nd all time.

Anyway, I definitely think 700 goals is doable if he stays healthy and plays a little longer in the NHL after his contract expires. At 40 goals a season for the rest of his contract he'd have 687 goals which would be 3 goals behind Lemieux for 10th all time and 7 behind Messier for 8th all time.

 

[Ivo]

Great player, regardless of what people yell about him.

I think he will end up around 700, if he can have a long and healthy career and doesn't go to Russia or something. Which would be great for his era.

Also, I don't think he has 13,5 seasons of hockey left. He will turn 30 this year, I would say he has realistically 10 more seasons left in him and would need to average 45 per year to reach Gretzky.

 

[Tom ServoMST3K]

I think he will end up around 700, if he can have a long and healthy career and doesn't go to Russia or something. Which would be great for his era.

Also, I don't think he has 13,5 seasons of hockey left. He will turn 30 this year, I would say he has realistically 10 more seasons left in him and would need to average 45 per year to reach Gretzky.

I don't think he can make it, but he might give it a good shot if he can play like Jagr as a old guy.

 

[Topgoon]

I think Ovechkin might have a chance to hit 700+ given the following conditions:
- He stays healthy and plays into his 40s
- His sniping capabilities continues to be effective
- He adapts his game to continue his current pace of getting shots to the net (since it'll be harder to find space and time)

AO has such a great goal scorer's instinct that I feel like even as he eventually ages and his point total drops, his goal to assist ratio will shift to maintain a pretty good steady stream of goals. The question is if his body can keep up. A lot of all time great career goal scorer tend to be garbage goal men, since they can continue doing that far later in their careers.

Note - after 724 games, Gretzky had 605 goals. However, I think AO will have a more even goal scoring pace to his career, whereas Gretzky seemed to really focus on play making after the Canada Cup back injury.

 

[ALLCAPSALLTHETIME]

I think Ovechkin might have a chance to hit 700+ given the following conditions:
- He stays healthy and plays into his 40s
- His sniping capabilities continues to be effective
- He adapts his game to continue his current pace of getting shots to the net (since it'll be harder to find space and time).

AO has such a great goal scorer's instinct that I feel like even as he eventually ages and his point total drops, his goal to assist ratio will shift to maintain a pretty good steady stream of goals.

Note - after 724 games, Gretzky had 605 goals. However, I think AO will have a more even goal scoring pace to his career, whereas Gretzky seemed to really focus on play making after the Canada Cup back injury.

Stupid Gary Suter!

 

[hisgirlfriday]

I just want to see Ovechkin set a new NHL record for shots.

He passed Mario Lemieux in the last month or so and is 43 shots away from cracking the all-time Top 30 for career shots. He could crack the Top 25 by the end of this season, although Hossa is moving up the list in front of him too.

 

[Paxton Fettel]

He's +12. It's all that matters

 

[CpatainCanuck]

I believe Gretzky reached that number by age 25. Ovechkin is 29, so unless he pulls a Selanne, reversing his current career trajectory and getting better into his late 30s he won't be getting very close to Gretzky.

 

[Jumptheshark]

he is edging closer to be a slam dunk for the hall of fame--but I do not see him matching gretz

 

[Luca]

LOL. 600 max and even that is unlikely.

 

[Paul4587]

LOL. 600 max and even that is unlikely.

600 is very likely. 700 is more questionable but he could still get there so long as he doesn't have a Heatley like decline.

 

[King Woodballs]

If he maintains this average (47 a year) over a twenty year career he will still fall 50 short
I see no way him getting to 992

Great player, regardless of what people yell about him.

Great offensive player

 

[madinsomniac]

It would be hard, but there is the outside chance he does it... if he stays healthy that is.Gretzky played the end of his career in the dead puck era of clutch and grab. Its possible that the NHL cracks down on obstruction again or does some other goal generating move trying to add offense and he is able to have a few more really great goal seasons that cover the inevitable drop off near the end of his career, and that he plays a long time....

on the flip side, staying healthy past 30 is always a crapshoot, and that's a lot of goals to score in ten to 11 years

 

[JS91]

He'll most likely get 700-750. Who knows though, there's been a few super fast declines from 100 point guys to barely roster players, like Heatley and Lecavalier.

 

[mrv52]

Love the indirect comparisons of Ovechkin to Lecavalier and Heatley. Keep it up HF.

 

[octopi]

With a goal against the Stars Ovechkin now has 447 goals in the NHL. That's exactly half of what Gretzky scored. It took Ovechkin 9 and a ½ seasons, or actually 9 seasons if you count the 2012-13 lockout, to score 447. Ovechkin still has about 13 and a ½ season of hockey left so the question is, can he score another 447 goals to reach Gretzky? If not, how close will he come?

I don't think he can catch Gretzky(but feel free to prove me wrong)

-He's playing in a league with better goaltending and better defense, thus lower scoring.

-more time missed to lockouts

-plays more physical style. He's been extremely healthy so far(although he plays through a known wrist issue one year) but he's also still fairly young. 30's,especially mid may not be so kind.

-Gretzky racked up a lot of his goals playing with a dream team. I'm going to go ahead and say that after Nick Backstrom,Ovechkin doesn't quite play with that calibre of players.

 

[SladeWilson23]

he is edging closer to be a slam dunk for the hall of fame--but I do not see him matching gretz

He already is a slam dunk.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

LOL. 600 max and even that is unlikely.

He only needs 153 goals over the next 10 years to reach 600.
15 goals per season, which is really easy for him.

 

[discobob]

he is edging closer to be a slam dunk for the hall of fame--but I do not see him matching gretz

Yeah, he's already there...look at the list of 3 or more hart trophy winners

 

[Luca]

He only needs 153 goals over the next 10 years to reach 600.
15 goals per season, which is really easy for him.

I do not belive that AO will play anywhere near 10 years more. 4-6 is more likely. And his decline will be fast and brutal.

 

[jacks*]

With a goal against the Stars Ovechkin now has 447 goals in the NHL. That's exactly half of what Gretzky scored. It took Ovechkin 9 and a ½ seasons, or actually 9 seasons if you count the 2012-13 lockout, to score 447. Ovechkin still has about 13 and a ½ season of hockey left so the question is, can he score another 447 goals to reach Gretzky? If not, how close will he come?

Gretzky scored 583 in the same amount of time.No O.V. will not catch Gretzky.