Ovechkin Milestone Thread - Countdown to 894 (Continued)

[BallardEra]

I would love it if he just had another great year next season and said, screw it, I feel good like Jagr, I’m having fun, I’m gonna score 1,000 and make my record absolutely untouchable. I have no doubt he is capable. Probably only needs a year beyond what he’s signed for at this rate, but I would be surprised if he has the will to play til 41-42.

I personally think next season will be his last. The only possibility I see beyond that is if the team is in contention and he's lured back on a 1 year deal.

 

[nothingbeatshockey]

I personally think next season will be his last. The only possibility I see beyond that is if the team is in contention and he's lured back on a 1 year deal.

Everything I've read suggested next year is his last and then he goes to Moscow for one year to "end where he started". But, I don't know that I've actually heard that attributed to Ovie himself. I wonder how tempted he would be to stay if the Caps were competitive next year.

 

[BallardEra]

900 goals in 1500 games or less would be pretty cool too and equates to a .60 goals per game pace.

49.2 goals average over 82 games.

 

[Toby91ca]

Howe at 39 years old was 3rd in goals and 3rd in points. If you compared Ovi vs only Canadian players (to emulate the pre-nationalization of hockey and the NHL), Ovi is 1st in goals/gp and 9th in points/gp to try and give a more accurate relative ranking to the league.

Oates at 39 was 7th in points and 157th in goals. To me this is crazy from the points perspective.

Technically, that year Howe was 3rd behind a Slovak who was 2nd in goals and 1st in points. He does identify as Canadian though.

Active sixty goal scorers this season:

Matthews(27) 1.4 goals per 60 minutes
McDavid(28) 1.1 goals per 60 minutes
Pastrnak(28) 1.5 goals per 60 minutes
Stamkos(35) 1.0 goals per 60 minutes

Ovechkin(39) 2.4 goals per 60 minutes

Who passed the torch to whom?

I think this is an example of where that stat should be considered pretty meaningless. No one on the planet is going to confuse this season as one of the best of his career, but that stat dwarfs that same stat for him in other years. I didn’t check a bunch of years, but I checked what should be inarguably his best season and it’s not in the same ballpark as this

 

[Toby91ca]

I would love it if he just had another great year next season and said, screw it, I feel good like Jagr, I’m having fun, I’m gonna score 1,000 and make my record absolutely untouchable. I have no doubt he is capable. Probably only needs a year beyond what he’s signed for at this rate, but I would be surprised if he has the will to play til 41-42.

I’ve already said it before, but I have a hard time thinking he’s going to continue to keep playing for much longer after breaking record. At times he really struggles, I think the off seasons, at least recently, are tough to push through and put in the required work. There is easily a role he could play (power play specialist) but I just don’t see it happening. The same motivation isn’t going to be there

 

[kugelbahn]

I think this is an example of where that stat should be considered pretty meaningless. No one on the planet is going to confuse this season as one of the best of his career, but that stat dwarfs that same stat for him in other years. I didn’t check a bunch of years, but I checked what should be inarguably his best season and it’s not in the same ballpark as this

Of course it is not one of the best of OV career, but relative to the age it means a lot.
Tail end of careers are often discarded, people say nothing can change old players stranding on all-time list. This is such amazing tail end it should count for something, it is not your usual stats compiler ala Francis.

 

[Chelis Chili]

OVI 11 AWAY FROM BREAKING GRETZKY’S RECORD
The Gr8 Chase is ticking down with nearly every Capitals game as Alex Ovechkin scored his fifth goal in the past four games to finish the first day of March needing only 11 goals to break Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 894. Ovechkin tallied goal No. 884 to cut Tampa Bay’s lead in half during the third period, starting what is historically the highest-scoring month of his career with his League-high 155th career goal in March.

* Ovechkin (53 G in 79 GP) trails only Leon Draisaitl (62 G in 96 GP) for goals since the 2024 NHL All-Star break, despite playing the second-fewest games among all players with 50-plus goals over that span (tied).

* Based on his goals-per-game rate in 2024-25 (0.70), Ovechkin is on pace to break Gretzky’s record April 2 at Carolina. Using his career goals-per-game rate (0.60), he is projected to pass The Great One on April 10 at home (vs. CAR).

sauce: https://media.nhl.com/public/news/18740

 

[kugelbahn]

Resale ticket prices are crazy for remaining Caps home games, got one for tomorrow Sens for 40$, remaining games are for 100$+ for cheapest seats...

 

[filinski77]

Of course it is not one of the best of OV career, but relative to the age it means a lot.
Tail end of careers are often discarded, people say nothing can change old players stranding on all-time list. This is such amazing tail end it should count for something, it is not your usual stats compiler ala Francis.

100%

If Ovi finishes top 2-5 in goals in 1-2 in goals/gp, regardless of age this season will add to his overall career ranking for sure.

 

[TeeTee]

900 goals in 1500 games or less would be pretty cool too and equates to a .60 goals per game pace.

49.2 goals average over 82 games.

This is hard to wrap my head around. To average this over an entire career is simply hard to believe.

 

[NVious]

Resale ticket prices are crazy for remaining Caps home game, got one for tomorrow Sens for 40$, remaining games are for 100$+ for cheapest seats...

Leaf fans bout to fly to DC, see Ovi break Gretz's record AND save some money.

 

[TheBeard]

yeah, yeah, I remember Line of Doom, good olden times, bump Lindros by 2 spots before I forget...

I think you’re confusing him with Fedyk on the Crazy Eights

 

[Toby91ca]

This is hard to wrap my head around. To average this over an entire career is simply hard to believe.

Well…not really, Gretzky already averaged more than that ever so slightly, but others have averaged a lot higher…they just didn’t play 1,500 games in their careers. This is what separates Ovechkin from the packs, ability to keep playing as long as he has and continuing to score

 

[kugelbahn]

I think you’re confusing him with Fedyk on the Crazy Eights

yeah, I do not recall any line names for OV, Lindros elevated his linemates, Lindros >>> OV confirmed

 

[Nogatco Rd]

Resale ticket prices are crazy for remaining Caps home games, got one for tomorrow Sens for 40$, remaining games are for 100$+ for cheapest seats...

Just imagine if your the lucky fan who catches the record breaking puck tho, that thing will be worth a small fortune

 

[Toby91ca]

Just imagine if your the lucky fan who catches the record breaking puck tho, that thing will be worth a small fortune

How exactly does someone catch the record breaking puck?

 

[Habsfunk]

Just imagine if your the lucky fan who catches the record breaking puck tho, that thing will be worth a small fortune

That puck isn't going back on the ice after it goes in the net. It's going straight to the Hall of Fame.

 

[kugelbahn]

Just imagine if your the lucky fan who catches the record breaking puck tho, that thing will be worth a small fortune

So you say there is a chance?
Scenarios:
* OV scores 895, grabs the puck and throws to his son but fan intercepts it
* OV scores 895, puck pierces the goal net and goes through photo camera hole and fan catches it
* OV scores 895, puck bounces off goal camera and over the glass and fan catches it

I think chances are comparable with OV scoring all 11 tomorrow.
With my luck though Caps will loose 0-1 in SO

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

OVI 11 AWAY FROM BREAKING GRETZKY’S RECORD
The Gr8 Chase is ticking down with nearly every Capitals game as Alex Ovechkin scored his fifth goal in the past four games to finish the first day of March needing only 11 goals to break Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 894. Ovechkin tallied goal No. 884 to cut Tampa Bay’s lead in half during the third period, starting what is historically the highest-scoring month of his career with his League-high 155th career goal in March.

* Ovechkin (53 G in 79 GP) trails only Leon Draisaitl (62 G in 96 GP) for goals since the 2024 NHL All-Star break, despite playing the second-fewest games among all players with 50-plus goals over that span (tied).

* Based on his goals-per-game rate in 2024-25 (0.70), Ovechkin is on pace to break Gretzky’s record April 2 at Carolina. Using his career goals-per-game rate (0.60), he is projected to pass The Great One on April 10 at home (vs. CAR).

sauce: https://media.nhl.com/public/news/18740

Getting a 2 week break because Russia wasn’t in the 4 Nations tourney was a nice advantage for Ovechkin to stay fresh and healthy. I really didn’t think he could do it this year, but now I think it’s almost inevitable.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

How exactly does someone catch the record breaking puck?

those guys have a whole system where they figure out which section is most likely and then buy up entire rows of seats. For example the famous Aaron Judd ball which sold for upwards of 10 figures last year.