Ovechkin Milestone Thread - Countdown to 894

[BallardEra]

Why did they celebrate the #802 goal just now? Weird to drag it for over two months.

Only thing that makes sense to me was maybe wanting to see how Ovie's father did health wise before they went ahead. Thinking Ovie possibly wanted him there but that unfortunately didn't happen.

 

[Calderon]

Only thing that makes sense to me was maybe wanting to see how Ovie's father did health wise before they went ahead. Thinking Ovie possibly wanted him there but that unfortunately didn't happen.

Ah, of course. All I was thinking was that the father passed away long after the fact but I didn't take into account that he was hospitalized for a while beforehand.

 

[kugelbahn]

Only thing that makes sense to me was maybe wanting to see how Ovie's father did health wise before they went ahead. Thinking Ovie possibly wanted him there but that unfortunately didn't happen.

Yeah, probably wanted to get family to DC to celebrate. Got mom and brother at least.

 

[tarheelhockey]

40 goal seasons since 05-06 (four or more)
Ovechkin - 13
Stamkos - 6
Kovalchuk - 5
McDavid - 4
Draisaitl - 4
Matthews - 4

That's just a preposterous gap between one player and the rest of the league.

If we take other players from their rookie season to age 37:

Gretzky - 12
Lemieux - 10
Gartner - 9
Hull - 8
Robitaille - 8
Bossy - 7
Ciccarelli - 7
Goulet - 7
Hawerchuk - 7
Kurri - 7
Lafontaine - 7
Mullen - 7

Lemieux - 10
Hull - 8
Robitaille - 8
Gartner - 7
Lafontaine - 7
Ciccarelli - 6
Gretzky - 6
Mullen - 6
Yzerman - 6

[note: This list is more or less the same for both Howe and Richard. The second number is for 35-goal seasons, since that's a more accurate comparison]
Howe - 4/7
Hull - 3/5
Richard - 3/6
Beliveau - 2/3

[note: Bossy retired at 30 so that is the only timeframe covered by these numbers]
Bossy - 9
Gretzky - 8
Dionne - 6
Goulet - 6

[note: this list is more or less the same for both Selanne and Jagr]
Selanne - 7
Jagr - 6
Hull - 6
Shanahan - 6
Bure - 5
Leclair - 5


None of the above show anything close to the separation from their peers that we have seen with Ovechkin. Even if we remove Lemieux from Gretzky's list, or Richard from Howe's, there still isn't this kind of yawning gap to the next guy. Ovechkin's combination of peak and longevity is something really special, we simply have not seen this happen before.

 

[kugelbahn]

One more thing: Ovi is back to ~50 goals pace on a season (49.7) and still on 50 goals pace for entire career (50.2)

 

[CatOTails]

History in making. Wow.
Didn't expected anything close to this back in early 2010's.

 

[TJHKY]

 

[ovikovy817]

GOAT

 

[IDEKWTM]

Yeah, probably wanted to get family to DC to celebrate. Got mom and brother at least.

View attachment 673816

Poor mother, she looks very sad.

 

[BallardEra]

When Ovechkin signed his 5 year deal before the start of last season he was 164 goals behind Gretzky's 894. Ovechkin was at 730 career goals.

Lots of people said he had to really cut into that 164 during his first 2-3 seasons as he would be 39 years old going into year 4 of his deal and 40 years old in the final year.

So far he has done just that by scoring 50 last season and 40 this season. That is 90 goals of the 164 which leaves him with 74 goals to score over the last 3 years of his contract and what's left of this season.

75 goals to break the record and hit 895.

 

[Midnight Judges]

When Ovechkin signed his 5 year deal before the start of last season he was 164 goals behind Gretzky's 894. Ovechkin was at 730 career goals.

Lots of people said he had to really cut into that 164 during his first 2-3 seasons as he would be 39 years old going into year 4 of his deal and 40 years old in the final year.

So far he has done just that by scoring 50 last season and 40 this season. That is 90 goals of the 164 which leaves him with 74 goals to score over the last 3 years of his contract and what's left of this season.

75 goals to break the record and hit 895.

Indeed the likelihood of Ovie breaking the record has significantly increased over these past few years.

The 900 goals club will likely be a party of 1 for a very long time.

 

[Roric]

 

[Voight]

Another record for him to put on his mantle.

One day we gotta dig up those 2016/2017 threads that stated he was done as an elite player, wouldn't come close to the goals record, should go back to the KHL etc.

 

[kugelbahn]

View attachment 674003

Those bobble heads always lack likeness, if it were not for tooth and jersey, I would guess it is Tom Wilson

 

[Roric]

Those bobble heads always lack likeness, if it were not for tooth and jersey, I would guess it is Tom Wilson

Someone said John Erskine on our board and now I can't unsee it, but yeah agreed on the lack of likeness. I just can't wait to change the goal counter to 895

 

[Midnight Judges]

Someone said John Erskine on our board and now I can't unsee it, but yeah agreed on the lack of likeness. I just can't wait to change the goal counter to 895

Yes! That's it. He was one of those guys like Jason Chimera where the helmet somehow sits too high on the head.

 

[Roric]

Also the lack of visor bothers me

 

[BallardEra]

The league is currently in its 105th season.

Ovechkin has only played in 7 seasons that rank in the top half of NHL history in terms of average scoring.

Gretzky played in 14 of the top 25 highest-scoring seasons in league history.

 

[Fred22406Capsfan]

and boom!

 

[BallardEra]

Nice breakaway goal.

 

[shtorm2005]

 

[BallardEra]

41 goals in 67 games is a 50 goal pace over 82 games.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

This goal sets the record for most goals by a player in their age 37 season

 

[Coffey]

I really hope the haters won’t downplay the achievement by asking “how many empty netters? How many power play goals??”

 

[BallardEra]

I really hope the haters won’t downplay the achievement by asking “how many empty netters? How many power play goals??”

Don't forget to add "he needed more games than Gretzky did!" if that happens.