Ovechkin Milestone Thread - Countdown to 894

[Zine]

Hmm

Hmm, I don’t know, but I see a considerable difference in his play since the break.

He is obviously not beating anyone end to end (or even from the offensive blue line to the goal line) - he hasn’t been able to do so for many years now. But he has that jump now, his first several strides are much better. He is MUCH more involved in play now because of these crucial first several steps. This just makes a world of difference in his overall play in comparison to how he was doing in the first half of the season.

This.

While not fast by and means, he just has that extra jump in his step he didn't have early on.
He was starting to look lot better just before the all-star break too, then he received that thigh injury.

Take it from an old person... injuries take much longer to heal as one ages. You can't play through an injury and expect it to heal like it would when you're 25. Time and rest are essential.

 

[tarheelhockey]

He's not clutch player Gretzky was though. Ovechkin 45 overtime games, zero goals.

I remember Capitals being upset many playoffs by weaker teams. We Halakan them one year.

There was a recent post that highlighted that Ovechkin is actually the most clutch goal scorer of all time. OT goals, go-ahead goals, game-tying goals, first goals of the game - he's always #1.
The Capitals' poor playoff performance was always the issue of roster building, not Ovechkin.
Even in the Halak series Habs fans are so proud of, AO had 5 goals and 5 assists (unlike Alex Syomin who had 0 goals on like 50 shots).

That kind of misses the point about being “clutch”, though. It’s not about who has the most overall volume, it’s about the rate at which that volume is achieved. Of course the guy who scores 1000 goals is eventually going to rack up more GWG than a guy who only scored 500. That doesn’t make him more clutch, it just means he threw twice as many darts at the board.

Disclaimer: I think the whole clutch argument is meaningless, and more a function of which players were on the right teams at the right times.

 

[kugelbahn]

38yo OV is first star of the week for 20th time.

For comparison:
Crosby 12 times
McDavid 10 times
Matthews 8 times
Malkin 6 times
Kucherov 5 times

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

Listing of NHL Three Stars of the Week

www.hockey-reference.com

 

[kugelbahn]

That kind of misses the point about being “clutch”, though. It’s not about who has the most overall volume, it’s about the rate at which that volume is achieved. Of course the guy who scores 1000 goals is eventually going to rack up more GWG than a guy who only scored 500. That doesn’t make him more clutch, it just means he threw twice as many darts at the board.

Disclaimer: I think the whole clutch argument is meaningless, and more a function of which players were on the right teams at the right times.

Gertzky had more games played (and more goals for now) and has fewer of those "clutch" goals.
So his "rate" is lower.
OV leads NHL (regular season) in both absolute value and rate, what you said is irrelevant.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Gertzky had more games played (and more goals for now) and has fewer of those "clutch" goals.
So his "rate" is lower.
OV leads NHL (regular season) in both absolute value and rate, what you said is irrelevant.

I didn’t say that Gretzky was more clutch.

I said this is a stupid way to measure it.

Does Ovechkin actually lead the league in rate? Or just between these two guys?

 

[Selanne00008]

- 7 more goals this year to get him to within 40.
- Making next year the most EPIC goal chance in NHL history.
- Ovie takes a month in the offseason to rest and starts a Gary Roberts esq training regimen in July
- Next season starts out with some Ovie fire and the entire world is captivated

 

[Midnight Judges]

That kind of misses the point about being “clutch”, though. It’s not about who has the most overall volume, it’s about the rate at which that volume is achieved. Of course the guy who scores 1000 goals is eventually going to rack up more GWG than a guy who only scored 500. That doesn’t make him more clutch, it just means he threw twice as many darts at the board.

Disclaimer: I think the whole clutch argument is meaningless, and more a function of which players were on the right teams at the right times.

Yeah I agree. The idea of "clutch" - regardless of which sport - is mostly just happenstance.

That said, I don't know why the all time leader in OT goals, and #2 in GWG is fair game to be singled out in that regard. We've done deeper dives on this. Ovechkin isn't deficient in this (largely arbitrary) area.

 

[kugelbahn]

I didn’t say that Gretzky was more clutch.

I said this is a stupid way to measure it.

Does Ovechkin actually lead the league in rate? Or just between these two guys?

This is no more stupid than PPG.
And yeah, OV has more tie-game goals per game than any other in top 10 on the list.

Goal Finder | Stathead.com

Find all-time goals fitting given criteria

stathead.com

Hull might have slightly better rate in some of these stats since he played 145 fewer games. He was clutch too according to these.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Carbery undeniably has some coaching talent. And he is still so young. I hope that the Caps could be set at this position for a long time.

Older, more experienced coach would have probably pulled the plug on Kuzy earlier. But at least it’s better late than never.

The league was languishing, a lock out, the dead puck era, not growing in popularity domestically....

Coming out of the lockout, the league hitched it's wagon to two young superstars, hyped them to the moon.... and both of them exceeded anyone's wildest expectations...

How often does that happen?

Saved the league? Maybe not from folding, but you can forgive the player for feeling a sense of ownership over league growth when he and Crosby delivered the product the league desperately needed...

Yep.

I love what Carberry has done for this team and I think he’s a great coach, but man did he suck at dealing with Kuznetsov. Though I emphasize as he is a rookie coach.

Ya but at the same time we don't know what the GM told Carberry and what he had promised Kuznetsov too.

I'm sure the plan was to play him hoping he was good and upped his trade value.

Whatever it was it wasn’t worth it. Kuznetsov was by far the worst player on our team and playing him as a 1C made this season much more challenging than it needed to be.

I think Carbery isn’t to blame for what was done with Kuznetsov in the 1st half.

I’m sure he got orders straight from above, like:

“Please recover our $7.8M investment, and see if he can integrate into your plans. Otherwise, please maximize his trade value.”

Anyway, the dead weight is gone and Ovi can produce again.

 

[hockeykicker]

lol canadian media

simmons says he is top 20
garrioch says he doesnt like ovechkin playing until he beats the record because its not the right motivation

 

[TJHKY]

 

[kugelbahn]

Nice to see Jose and Olaf on the list.
And "Federov", why is it so hard to spell? I think it cold be used as rapid dyslexia test

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

lol canadian media

simmons says he is top 20
garrioch says he doesnt like ovechkin playing until he beats the record because its not the right motivation

The Toronto Sun is the biggest collection of losers in the hockey world. Same group of clowns who called Dostal a “no-name goalie” after he stood on his head against the Leafs.

Auston Matthews saves day in OT after no-name goalie vexes Maple Leafs

Lukas Dostal came close to shutting out the Leafs, but Toronto ralled for back-to-back wins with Martin Jones in net.

torontosun.com

 

[tarheelhockey]

This is no more stupid than PPG.
And yeah, OV has more tie-game goals per game than any other in top 10 on the list.

Goal Finder | Stathead.com

Find all-time goals fitting given criteria

stathead.com

Hull might have slightly better rate in some of these stats since he played 145 fewer games. He was clutch too according to these.

To me that’s more impressive, that he stood out among the full top-10 as opposed to just Gretzky.

To the point about playing fewer games — I suspect this stat will usually favor guys who played fewer games/retired younger. Rate of scoring GWG would be expected to drop as a player ages and his stats fall off.

 

[TheSmokingMan]

There isn't really any evidence for Ovechkin being out of shape. Stop this madness. It's so ironic how so many posters blamed Ovechkin's poor 1st half of the season on him not training hard enough and eating high-caloric food, only to see AO improving drastically after riding camels in a desert for a week and Kuznetsov leaving the roster.

And yeah, while Ovechkin has played with Strome more, he still played many games with Kuznetsov (who was godawful), and both Kuznetsov and Backstrom (who was completely done) played quite a bit on the PP when they were on the roster.

I think it was pretty obvious that Ovie was playing injured in the beginning of the season. He just never looked comfortable whether it was his skating, physical play, or especially his shot. He looks like a completely different player now.

People have been incorrectly saying Ovie is out of shape for years. You don't play at the level he has for 18 years and not train hard in the offseason. A lot of people think that the more cut and ripped looking you are the better shape you are in. Ovechkin has never really had that kind of sculpted looking body, but make no mistake, what's under the surface is all muscle. The guy is 6'3" 238 LB's and an absolute tank.

There's a reason barely anyone tries to land a huge hit on him. They know it most likely won't end well for them. It's like hitting a wall, most of the time they just bounce off. The scouting report on Ovie is to avoid engaging him physically, because it only gets him going and usually backfires.

 

[Midnight Judges]

The Toronto Sun is the biggest collection of losers in the hockey world. Same group of clowns who called Dostal a “no-name goalie” after he stood on his head against the Leafs.

Auston Matthews saves day in OT after no-name goalie vexes Maple Leafs

Lukas Dostal came close to shutting out the Leafs, but Toronto ralled for back-to-back wins with Martin Jones in net.

torontosun.com

Eh, it's the same brand of hockey media who claimed Kucherov wasn't a top 20 player before this season started and also claimed Malkin isn't a top 100 player of all time (but Toews is).

And as much as it would be nice to blame it on a mere few outlier idiots, there is a gargantuan market of people gobbling it all up and parroting it. Unfortunately, it's a clear pattern.

 

[Nogatco Rd]

I like his chances the next two years, especially if this proposal passes:

Bad hit on Jagr - why there should be special rules for older players

Not sure what age to draw the line but as I proposed in an earlier thread if someone has been in the league for a very long time, those players need to be protected. Maybe give them a different color jersey that makes them not eligible to be hit if they request it. I would hate to see Jagr's...

forums.hfboards.com

 

[ovikovy817]

Andre Burakovsky assisted on Ovi's goal when he was 19 years old 300 something days. 340?
There was a trivia question during last WSH game.

EDIT : Oh, read it to quickly.

 

[TJHKY]

 

[DitchMarner]

I don't get what this is...

Are the names after age 37 there for laughs or something?

Fedorov assisted on an Ovechkin goal at age 54?

Like... WTF?

 

[HTFN]

I don't get what this is...

Are the names after age 37 there for laughs or something?

Fedorov assisted on an Ovechkin goal at age 54?

Like... WTF?

I looked up his current age and Fedorov is 54, I think the idea is that there's a person in every age group up to the 50's that has been a part of NHL hockey long enough to assist an Ovechkin goal and this is the age they currently are, which is amazing in some senses since we're talking about a guy still currently playing and chasing the goals record.

Fedorov is 54 now, Miroshnichenko is 20, that's an interesting span of ages for any player to have come in contact with let alone one of the top goal scorers ever.

 

[TJHKY]

I don't get what this is...

Are the names after age 37 there for laughs or something?

Fedorov assisted on an Ovechkin goal at age 54?

Like... WTF?

That shows how long he’s been in the league! There are 34 years age difference between Ovi assisters.

The post should say "All different current ages of players that have ever assisted on the Ovi goal"

 

[Slapshot Sultan]

Huge respect for the guy. Really hope he beats the record. He's really earned it.

 

[Firsov99]

Ovi just can’t do without junk food

 

[Ghost of Murph]

lol canadian media

simmons says he is top 20
garrioch says he doesnt like ovechkin playing until he beats the record because its not the right motivation

Main goal of hockey is to score goals. Ovi best goal scorer in league history. Clown shoes need to be worn by anyone trying to reason that somehow Ovi is not in the top 10 of best NHL players ever. It would be interesting to see Canadian media opinions on Ovi had he been born in Ontario.