Ovechkin Milestone Thread - Countdown to 894 (Continued)

[Unlimited Chequing]

This doesn’t seem right. He had another hat trick earlier this season. Against Vegas.

This, he also had a hat trick against Chicago when he scored 800.

He also had back to back hat tricks in October of 2017, which isn't in that list.

 

[Randyne]

Goals before turning 30 years old:

Gretzky - 706
Ovechkin - 475

Gretzky vs almost naked amateur goalies. That's why adjusted goals exist. That's why those goals are not equal. Completely different scoring environments.

Goals from 30 years old and on:
Gretzky - 188
Ovechkin - 407

And that's how Gretzky scored vs equipped and professional goalies.

Young Ovechkin would annihilate the 80s league.
Adjusted Ovechkin has 240 more goals than Gretzky.
Closer he gets to the record the more people forget about adjusting different scoring environments.

 

[Greatzsky 99]

The fact that it’s going to happen this year is WILD. This is all-time legendary stuff happening before our very eyes.

for Gods sake, why dont people learn? remember when he broke a bone, i hate when people are highminden, NOTHING is certain, lets take it one game at a time.

Gretzky vs almost naked amateur goalies. That's why adjusted goals exist. That's why those goals are not equal. Completely different scoring environments.


And that's how Gretzky scored vs equipped and professional goalies.

Young Ovechkin would annihilate the 80s league.
Adjusted Ovechkin has 240 more goals than Gretzky.
Closer he gets to the record the more people forget about adjusting different scoring environments.

Thats just nonsens.

 

[CatOTails]

Happy for OV, scoring a hatty in NHL at 39 (?). A very impressive feat, to say the least.
Still I can't stop wondering what was behind a decision to swap a goalie when trailing 3 goals in a non-payoff game.

 

[Mulletman]

I just think it gets harder to stay fully healthy as you get older. What he’s done up until now is insane.

Why do you still doubt Ovechkin's ability?
He's just 39, both Jagr and Selanne were still going strong after turning 40.
Hell, Selanne was 8th in points at 40 after missing 9 games with a nagging hip injury. And that was back when scoring was lower and your top defensemen looked like this:

Ovechkin is bigger, stronger, more durable and plays for a better team than Selanne did at the same age. The league is higher scoring now too and your top defensemen look like this:

If Ovechkin wants to score 1000 goals there's absolutely nobody who can stop him...

 

[Greatzsky 99]

#99 1487 894goals
#8 1467 882goals

It would be amazing if he scores 895 in game 1487, its amazing anyway, and Wayne and Bettman cheering on, lets pray no injuries or anything else interviens.

 

[Bruce Granville]

He's gonna break it in the playoffs isn't he. I just hope he breaks it on a 1 timer from his camping spot. What an iconic player. Immortality achieved.

Oh boy…

 

[Greatzsky 99]

He's gonna break it in the playoffs isn't he. I just hope he breaks it on a 1 timer from his camping spot. What an iconic player. Immortality achieved.

FYI my friend, this record is REGULAR season only. In Playoffs Wayne is still pretty untouchable, Wayne has
122 goals in 208 games, Ovi has 72 goals in 151 games for 15th place, but if Caps goes far in PO, he could advance to 5th all time (85 goals)

 

[BallardEra]

Happy for OV, scoring a hatty in NHL at 39 (?). A very impressive feat, to say the least.
Still I can't stop wondering what was behind a decision to swap a goalie when trailing 3 goals in a non-payoff game.

I was reading that the Caps iced the puck and had a tired line out there including Ovechkin.

So the Oilers figured to pull the goalie and brought out McDrai.

The goalie wasn't pulled when Ovechkin was originally out there.

 

[Dingo]

I think that Gretzky's goal-scoring arc was rather standard. He peaked between ages 21 and 24 (that is, 84/85 was his last peak season in terms of goal-scoring). He won his last goal-scoring title at the age of 26 (62 goals in 1986/87, which was already a far cry from his peak production of 92 and 87 goals).
In the three seasons before the Suter hit, Gretzky scored 40, 54, 40 goals.
In the three full seasons after and including the Suter hit, he scored 41, 31, 38 goals.

It is not like Suter brought Gretzky from his 70-80 goals form to less than 40-goal form. Gretzky already was averaging 45 goals in the three years before the hit vs. 81-goal average in his peak four years. And the hit allegedly pushed Gretzky down to 37 goals per season average. That's 20% decline after crossing the 30-years-old mark, that's rather normal and graceful aging.

The big decline was going from 81-goal average in 1981-85 to 45-goal average in 1987-90. That's a crash, that's losing nearly half of his goal-scoring production. But Gretzky is far from the only one - Brett Hull followed the same arc, Esposito, though a late bloomer, followed the same arc. Stamkos, Jagr, Selanne, Lafleur had similar declines from peak goal-scoring.

Only four goal-scorers in history were able to defy age and stay close to peak goal-scoring into their 30s: Richard, Howe, Bobby Hull, Ovechkin.

Gretzky also went from starting his career in the highest scoring era to the lowest scoring era by the time he was about 35. It emphasizes his decline a LOT.

Ovechkin went from a low scoring era in his twenties to a high scoring era, with reduced goalie pads, three on three OTs and silly bugger goalie pulls all coming in right around him thrning 30. Makes him look even more consistent than he is. If 20-25 year old Ovechkin was playing starting in 2020 he would be putting up pretty crazy numbers, i would think. And, had those changes not come he would be having a tough time.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

What a monster

 

[Dingo]

Gretzky vs almost naked amateur goalies. That's why adjusted goals exist. That's why those goals are not equal. Completely different scoring environments.


And that's how Gretzky scored vs equipped and professional goalies.

Young Ovechkin would annihilate the 80s league.
Adjusted Ovechkin has 240 more goals than Gretzky.
Closer he gets to the record the more people forget about adjusting different scoring environments.

because a lot of people can't accept adjustments. Take a peak at these names and numbers and ask yourself why Kane and Crosby look really bad as goalscorers in comparison, when they certainly arent.

 

[BallardEra]

 

[qc14]

With another empty netter OV joins his buddy as one of only 3 players in NHL history with 80 ENPs!
View attachment 981765

MacKinnon might get 80 this year alone

 

[Dingo]

View attachment 981990
because a lot of people can't accept adjustments. Take a peak at these names and numbers and ask yourself why Kane and Crosby look really bad as goalscorers in comparison, when they certainly arent.

compared to 2014, for example. Hopefully everyone can see that there needs to be context, whether they think adjusted is the way to go or not....

 

[tarheelhockey]

for Gods sake, why dont people learn? remember when he broke a bone, i hate when people are highminden, NOTHING is certain, lets take it one game at a time.

Obviously he could get injured and never get the record. I don’t see how that adds anything to the discussion.

Last night he became one of the oldest players ever to score a hat trick, after doing the same in November. Only Howe and Bucyk have scored 2 hat tricks at an older age than what Ovechkin did this season. He’s now 13 goals short of the record with 25 games left to play, after scoring 29 in 46 so far.

This was not supposed to be the year that he hit the record. The fact that he’s putting up these numbers at this age is incredible, nearly unprecedented. It’s legendary stuff, enjoy it for what it is. After this it could be a generation or more before we see something like it again.

 

[tarheelhockey]

View attachment 981990
because a lot of people can't accept adjustments. Take a peak at these names and numbers and ask yourself why Kane and Crosby look really bad as goalscorers in comparison, when they certainly arent.

To be fair, you’re only looking at single seasons there. If you did the same list for the past 20 years, Crosby and Kane wouldn’t be on the list. But guys like Sam Reinhart, Jonathan Cheechoo, and Zach Hyman would.

 

[BobCole]

Holy hell, scoring was higher in Gretzky's era, and IMHO OV is the GOAT goal scorer (man that's a lot of acronyms in one sentence).

But let's stop dressing Gretzky down. Nobody other than Lemieux (+ Gretzky's own linemates) even *sniffed* Gretzky's totals in his day. When people criticize the goalies of the 80s, they seemingly turn a blind eye to the fact that skaters also had inferior equipment. Crappy skates, even crappier sticks, heavier pads, etc.

 

[SkinsFan09]

Gretzky also went from starting his career in the highest scoring era to the lowest scoring era by the time he was about 35. It emphasizes his decline a LOT.

Ovechkin went from a low scoring era in his twenties to a high scoring era, with reduced goalie pads, three on three OTs and silly bugger goalie pulls all coming in right around him thrning 30. Makes him look even more consistent than he is. If 20-25 year old Ovechkin was playing starting in 2020 he would be putting up pretty crazy numbers, i would think. And, had those changes not come he would be having a tough time.

Gretzky played all but four seasons in an insanely high scoring environment. You have to get to his SIXTEENTH season before teams started scoring less than 3 goals per game (2.99) and when goaltender save percentage finally reached .900%. For his career 94-95 was a big drop in scoring - it's also pretty much the same scoring environment we have this season where we're calling it high flying and wide open. Gretzky was largely through his career by the time the scoring plummeted in 1996-97.

Ovechkin has never played in a season where the average GAA was above 3 or the save percentage was below .900%. The NHL scoring increase we're seeing started in 2017-2018 but really exploded in 2021-22 when teams goals per game finally reached 3 for the first time since his rookie year.

He turned 30 in 2015. Six seasons before scoring got even close to the levels Gretzky got to enjoy until his mid-30s. Gretzky's last 50-goal season was 1988-89, scoring was still sky high through 1995-96. The league didn't cut his goals, his ability to score them diminished.

Now this all said, 99 is still the GOAT.

 

[Dingo]

Holy hell, scoring was higher in Gretzky's era, and IMHO OV is the GOAT goal scorer (man that's a lot of acronyms in one sentence).

But let's stop dressing Gretzky down. Nobody other than Lemieux (+ Gretzky's own linemates) even *sniffed* Gretzky's totals in his day. When people criticize the goalies of the 80s, they seemingly turn a blind eye to the fact that skaters also had inferior equipment. Crappy skates, even crappier sticks, heavier pads, etc.

im specifically not meaning to dress him down. There needs to be context in numbers. The track we measure on shifts every year, unlike a barbell or olympic track.

Crosby has won two Rockets and is one of the most consistent scorers of his generation. His third best scoring season, which he set at 36 years old which should be an alarm bell itself for anyone who doesnt understand changes in scoring, is eclipsed by Morris Lukowich.

Most of the guys on that 81-82 list didnt last very long as scorers in the league. There were goals to be had in them thar days, and one of the greatest goalscorers ever, Wayne, hauled more out of the mine than anyone could be expected to in any other era.

 

[AlexModvechkin8]

The two goals yesterday before the ENG were great. On the first shot the puck actually rolls on its side as he’s about to shoot and he essentially slingshots it into the net. The second shot was vintage Ovi from the Office — pinpoint accuracy with overwhelming power. You couldn’t have walked that puck in and placed it any better.

He looked terrible Saturday against Pittsburgh and then looked a decade younger on Sunday. Any given night he can turn back the clock.

 

[Dingo]

Why do you still doubt Ovechkin's ability?
He's just 39, both Jagr and Selanne were still going strong after turning 40.
Hell, Selanne was 8th in points at 40 after missing 9 games with a nagging hip injury. And that was back when scoring was lower and your top defensemen looked like this:
View attachment 981940
Ovechkin is bigger, stronger, more durable and plays for a better team than Selanne did at the same age. The league is higher scoring now too and your top defensemen look like this:
View attachment 981943
If Ovechkin wants to score 1000 goals there's absolutely nobody who can stop him...

haha, funny post. Dahlin.

I hope he keeps it up

i think a lot will depend on how this season ends and next season goes. I could see him scoring as few as 40 goals over that period, which would put him so far away that i would think he will go to Russia and then retire.

However, if he keeps up this mania, scoring 15-20 more this year and 40+ next year... well, i mean, if he is sitting close to 950 when his contract is up..... might as well sign for two more years and see if it cant be done!

 

[andrjusha]

Here is a list of 33 OV hat tricks (one in playoffs) from hockey reference

 

[ViD]

He looked terrible Saturday against Pittsburgh and then looked a decade younger on Sunday. Any given night he can turn back the clock.

Pretty decent team you got to score 8 even with a terrible Ovie

 

[Dingo]

Nothing like this has ever been done, right??