Ovechkin milestone thread - 850 and Beyond!

[LokiDog]

View attachment 926194

Ovechkin leads 3 Stars of the Week | NHL.com

Capitals captain, Hurricanes forward Necas, Penguins center Crosby earn honors

www.nhl.com

21st time he got first star of the week which leads NHL (started in 06-07)

NHL Three Stars of the Week | Hockey-Reference.com

Listing of NHL Three Stars of the Week

www.hockey-reference.com

Sid is secondary with 12
McD is third with 11

I know he’ll break the record and for me he is the GOAT goal scorer and a fantastic personality for the game, but I have to just sit back and admire the fact that Ovie AND Sid are stars of the week in 2024. What studs we were treated to.

 

[HockeyWooot]

Gotta love his start, it would be typical Ovi fashion to not trickle over the record with a 25-30 goal year but rather smash it with a monster season.

I’ve just learned he’s also 3rd in all time hits (at least since the stat was officially tracked). If that’s true that’s pretty incredible to boot!

 

[WarriorofTime]

An under the radar milestone is that Ovechkin is currently 12th in career assists from a winger (as listed on NHL.com, which for instance, has Giroux listed as Winger who has played all forward spots throughout his career). 3rd amongst Left Wingers (22 behind Robitaille for second, won't catch Bucyk for first).

 

[kugelbahn]

Gotta love his start, it would be typical Ovi fashion to not trickle over the record with a 25-30 goal year but rather smash it with a monster season.

I’ve just learned he’s also 3rd in all time hits (at least since the stat was officially tracked). If that’s true that’s pretty incredible to boot!

O is on pace to become #2 on hits list, he has 29 hits in 11 games so far this season,
trails Matt Martin by 197 hits with 153 games left on contract...

 

[winnipegger]

He's a freak. The league is quite simply not an old man's league. How many active players are there who are 39+ anyway? And how many are getting player of the week?!

 

[CanadienShark]

I'm so happy for the guy. He's got an awesome personality and is an all time great. Those of us that didn't grow up with Gretzky, prime Lemieux, etc. got to witness a pretty damn special player in his own right. In some offseason thread (maybe multiple), I always voted for him breaking the record sooner than later. I'm still amazed that it was even a question of "if" just a few years ago.

TLDR; Ovechkin is awesome. Go Ovechkin!

 

[Nemesis Prime]

Damn shame the lockouts and COVID years robbed us of him hitting 1000.

 

[Randyne]

View attachment 926194

Ovechkin leads 3 Stars of the Week | NHL.com

Capitals captain, Hurricanes forward Necas, Penguins center Crosby earn honors

www.nhl.com

21st time he got first star of the week which leads NHL (started in 06-07)

NHL Three Stars of the Week | Hockey-Reference.com

Listing of NHL Three Stars of the Week

www.hockey-reference.com

Sid is secondary with 12
McD is third with 11

 

[Video Nasty]

I would bump down Howe from that list. Howe played a lot more games than any of the others. You forgot about Mike Bossy!

I’m not here to argue if Howe belongs in the top four—rather, he certainly isn’t out of place. He led the league in goals five times and was runner-up another five. Until Gretzky hit 802, Howe held the career goals record. He also spent his prime in a low-scoring era, often with goal rates lower than the Dead Puck Era. In 1952-53, for instance, he scored 49 goals in 70 games when the league average was just 4.8 goals per game. The runner up was his own teammate who scored only 32. It’s also worth noting that he played only 70 games a season for most of his career.

As said, I’m not the one to argue it, but I had to respond because of you saying he played so many more games.

 

[winnipegger]

Damn shame the lockouts and COVID years robbed us of him hitting 1000.

Not to mention he didn't play his first NHL game until he was 21. If he had started at 18 or 19 like Matthews who knows what he would have now.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Not to mention he didn't play his first NHL game until he was 21. If he had started at 18 or 19 like Matthews who knows what he would have now.

Just turned 20 for first NHL game, but he did miss out on his 19 year old season due to lockout.

 

[BallardEra]

Alexander Ovechkin is scoring as the Washington Capitals are off to a hot start | TSN

The Washington Captials are off to a hot start and Alexander Ovechkin is approaching one of hockey's more unapproachable records faster than expected

www.tsn.ca

 

[tarheelhockey]

He's a freak. The league is quite simply not an old man's league. How many active players are there who are 39+ anyway? And how many are getting player of the week?!

It’s really hard to believe what he’s doing at this age.

He currently has 7 goals in his 11 games. The most goals ever scored by a player his age was Gordie Howe with 39, and second place is Johnny Bucyk with 29.

So he could score only 22 goals over his last 71 games and still have the #2 highest scoring season of all time at his age, trailing only Howe.

 

[stephenball]

I mean, I think Ovechkin came out in his first years and was just so over the top dominant and explosive that when he stopped being like, literally one of the absolute best players we’ve ever seen play in the league the perception started to become more about what he wasn’t anymore than what he was and still is. The beginning of last season was the only time I thought he was legitimately not good. But he is FULLY back at this point.

If you’ve been watching the games they aren’t forcing it to him, it’s just good team games. And if you’re up by two goals why not throw him out there for the potential ENG.

 

[Video Nasty]

I mean, I think Ovechkin came out in his first years and was just so over the top dominant and explosive that when he stopped being like, literally one of the absolute best players we’ve ever seen play in the league the perception started to become more about what he wasn’t anymore than what he was and still is.

This is fair and I am guilty of it. It’s hard for me to reconcile just how much he declined after his first five seasons and I don’t think I ever really got over it. Realistically, he’s been pretty good in the fifteen years since he stopped being one of the five greatest players to make their debut between 1967-2010, but it would be so much easier to cheer this on if he didn’t stop posting 100 point seasons after age 24, and crumbled from a 110-120 point caliber player of the time to someone struggling to stay around a PPG.

 

[Midnight Judges]

Ovie just surpassed Bryan Trottier and Bobby Clarke in career adjusted assists.

 

[pezpunk]

This is fair and I am guilty of it. It’s hard for me to reconcile just how much he declined after his first five seasons and I don’t think I ever really got over it. Realistically, he’s been pretty good in the fifteen years since he stopped being one of the five greatest players to make their debut between 1967-2010, but it would be so much easier to cheer this on if he didn’t stop posting 100 point seasons after age 24, and crumbled from a 110-120 point caliber player of the time to someone struggling to stay around a PPG.

Points are a stupid stat. Pretending that secondary assists are on average just as valuable as goals is and always has been total utter nonsense.

 

[zappa4ever]

This is fair and I am guilty of it. It’s hard for me to reconcile just how much he declined after his first five seasons and I don’t think I ever really got over it. Realistically, he’s been pretty good in the fifteen years since he stopped being one of the five greatest players to make their debut between 1967-2010, but it would be so much easier to cheer this on if he didn’t stop posting 100 point seasons after age 24, and crumbled from a 110-120 point caliber player of the time to someone struggling to stay around a PPG.

lolwut

5 50g seasons + a 49 and 48g* season after his first five seasons is quite the decline isn't it (591 goals)
* Covid cut 10gms off

There's been a TOTAL of 18 110+ point seasons league-wide the last 15 years, only 8 from Wingers
(and 10 of the 18 the last 2 seasons)

 

[tarheelhockey]

I mean, I think Ovechkin came out in his first years and was just so over the top dominant and explosive that when he stopped being like, literally one of the absolute best players we’ve ever seen play in the league the perception started to become more about what he wasn’t anymore than what he was and still is. The beginning of last season was the only time I thought he was legitimately not good. But he is FULLY back at this point.

If you’ve been watching the games they aren’t forcing it to him, it’s just good team games. And if you’re up by two goals why not throw him out there for the potential ENG.

As someone who was too young to really appreciate prime Gretzky and only started having an adult/critical perspective on the game during his sunset era, I thought he was pretty overrated and a disappointing player to watch (if anything, still good enough to be annoying). Ovechkin will probably get a little of that treatment for a while. Eventually it comes back around when those same people take a closer look at the stats and highlights, and 20 years later nobody’s even close to his numbers.

 

[stephenball]

As someone who was too young to really appreciate prime Gretzky and only started having an adult/critical perspective on the game during his sunset era, I thought he was pretty overrated and a disappointing player to watch (if anything, still good enough to be annoying). Ovechkin will probably get a little of that treatment for a while. Eventually it comes back around when those same people take a closer look at the stats and highlights, and 20 years later nobody’s even close to his numbers.

Yeah. Obviously everybody assumes that barring a really unfortunate injury derailment or something he’s definitely getting the record. While a handful of goals doesn’t ACTUALLY mean that much, once the goal scoring record starts with a 9, it’ll just feel even more gargantuan.

 

[filinski77]

This is fair and I am guilty of it. It’s hard for me to reconcile just how much he declined after his first five seasons and I don’t think I ever really got over it. Realistically, he’s been pretty good in the fifteen years since he stopped being one of the five greatest players to make their debut between 1967-2010, but it would be so much easier to cheer this on if he didn’t stop posting 100 point seasons after age 24, and crumbled from a 110-120 point caliber player of the time to someone struggling to stay around a PPG.

To be fair, post-peak Ovi lined up directly with the dead puck era 2.0.

2011: Down year, but 7th in points. Realistically equivalent to ~105 points today.

2012: Worst year of his career. But 5th in goals and 37th in points was equivalent to 49 goals and 75 points last year.

2013: Low scoring + half season. But he had the best season in the NHL that year (even if Crosby was a better player and just missed games). But that season definitely is equivalent to 55-60 goals + 110-120 points based on the last few years.

2014: 1st in goals and 8th in points, with that goalscoring year being one of the most dominant of all time. Pretty close to a 60-65 goal, 105 point season today.

2015: Best season by a non-goalie. Crazy dominant goal year, 4th in points and not that far behind 1st. Pretty close to a 60-65 goal, 115-120 point season today.

From 2011-2017 (7 seasons, there were only 5x 100 point seasons because of how low scoring the league was). The last few years we are averaging like 9x per season!

 

[Video Nasty]

To be fair, post-peak Ovi lined up directly with the dead puck era 2.0.

2011: Down year, but 7th in points. Realistically equivalent to ~105 points today.

2012: Worst year of his career. But 5th in goals and 37th in points was equivalent to 49 goals and 75 points last year.

2013: Low scoring + half season. But he had the best season in the NHL that year (even if Crosby was a better player and just missed games). But that season definitely is equivalent to 55-60 goals + 110-120 points based on the last few years.

2014: 1st in goals and 8th in points, with that goalscoring year being one of the most dominant of all time. Pretty close to a 60-65 goal, 105 point season today.

2015: Best season by a non-goalie. Crazy dominant goal year, 4th in points and not that far behind 1st. Pretty close to a 60-65 goal, 115-120 point season today.

From 2011-2017 (7 seasons, there were only 5x 100 point seasons because of how low scoring the league was). The last few years we are averaging like 9x per season!

I respect your posts and your passion for Ovechkin, but I don’t agree that scoring levels explain it all away. He was an all around playmaking monster for his first handful of seasons and then it crumbled away virtually overnight, at too young of an age.

 

[psycat]

lolwut

5 50g seasons + a 49 and 48g* season after his first five seasons is quite the decline isn't it (591 goals)
* Covid cut 10gms off

There's been a TOTAL of 18 110+ point seasons league-wide the last 15 years, only 8 from Wingers
(and 10 of the 18 the last 2 seasons)

Its more that he visually declined very fast for me. Going from a dynamic skater to a shot. Dont get me wrong im one of those who rank him above Crosby all time, mainly based on peak, and his consistency as a goalscorer is more or less unmatched but he quickly turned into about half the complete package of his former self.

 

[Offtheboard412]

Its more that he visually declined very fast for me. Going from a dynamic skater to a shot. Dont get me wrong im one of those who rank him above Crosby all time, mainly based on peak, and his consistency as a goalscorer is more or less unmatched but he quickly turned into about half the complete package of his former self.

Ovechkin at his peak was probably the scariest player I've seen as an opposing team's fan. 1 vs 2, 1 vs 3 it didn't matter. He could shoot through defenders, deke them, lower his shoulder and drive the net, or if the defender backed off, pull up and find the open man all at an absurd level. McDavid is the closest to giving that same feeling of inevitability, and even he doesn't quite create that same feeling. For NBA fans he had a bit of the Steph Curry effect, where you knew as soon as he crossed the blue line he was dangerous and you had to press him, but pressing him often ended up burning you just as badly.

 

[YoRy]

crumbled away virtually overnight, at too young of an age.

Did he?
2011 (25yo) — 85pts, 32G + 53A. Worst SH% in career.
2012 (26yo) — 65pts, Hunter's Hockey. No comment.
2013 (27yo) — 56pts in 48 games. Half-season (~95pts/82gm)

Three seasons. Different reasons.