Ovechkin Milestone Thread - Countdown to 894

[pezpunk]

Because if you’re not a 50 goal scorer you get benched.

Sells tickets and sponsorships.

But way overrated by fans in terms of actual contribution to winning.

Please stop forcing us to take part in your humiliation fetish.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

Another obscure stat, but Ovechkin is now T-5th all-time among forward (behind only Gretzky, Francis, Dionne and Sakic) for most PP goals he's been on the ice for. Tonight he passed Lemieux (and is tied with Yzerman).

Assuming he plays the rest of this season without falling off a cliff, he'll climb into 3rd place all-time (among forwards).

If he plays two more reasonably full seasons (ie this year and then one more), he'll probably become only the 9th player in NHL history (the 3rd forward, and 1st winger) to be on the ice for 1,000 PP goals that his team has scored.

 

[SherVaughn30]

I've always been butthurt that the Caps could never seemingly snag a Verhaeghe, Panarin, Forsling or Marchessault out of nowhere like other teams but Strome is looking as good as Backstrom ever did at this point, well at least offensively. Just unreal playmaking and timing. Would be insane if his chemistry with Ovi endures the entire year and somehow Ovechkin scores a career high in goals while Strome obliterates the all time Caps points in a season record

Denis Maruk holds the Caps record with 136 pts. Strome is on a pace to reach 128. OV's most scored goals in a season is 65. Right now with 10 in 14, he's on a pace to reach 58 total. As a Caps fan, I don't think either will come close to those numbers, but I love what they are doing right now.

 

[Calicaps]

At this rate, could it be out of question for him to set a new record for oldest player to hit 50?

He already owns the record from when he did in 2022 at 36.

And if he gets it, doesn't that give him the most 50-goal seasons all time too?

 

[Bizz]

Because if you’re not a 50 goal scorer you get benched.

Sells tickets and sponsorships.

But way overrated by fans in terms of actual contribution to winning.

So all but 4 players in the entire NHL last season deserve to be benched.

Got it.

 

[Hockey Outsider]

And if he gets it, doesn't that give him the most 50-goal seasons all time too?

Correct. Ovechkin, Gretzky and Bossy are all tied with nine 50 goal seasons.

Lemieux, Lafleur and Dionne have six 50 goal seasons each. Both Hulls (father and son), Yzerman, Bure and Esposito have five each.

The only other active players with multiple 50 goal seasons are Draisaitl (3x), and then Stamkos and Matthews (2x).

 

[pezpunk]

So all but 4 players in the entire NHL last season deserve to be benched.

Got it.

The weird obsession with downplaying and dismissing Ovechkin’s accomplishments started pretty much day one of his career, and has never stopped. Early in his career it was that he was dirty or lazy or could never be a captain or could never win the big game or whatever other absurdly subjective complaints they could come up with. I’m not sure if it was a weird Don Cherry thing, or a Canada-wide thing, or what, but I’ve never seen a collective fan base AND STRUGGLING PROFESSIONAL LEAGUE more unappreciative and dismissive and actively hostile towards what was at the time by far its most dynamic and interesting and highlight-reel generating player!!!


Just an amazing triumph of curmudgeon reactionaries over pure generational talent. Most of the games Ovi missed were due to absurd suspensions for clean hits. The NHL wanted their most interesting and amazing player to fail.

They’re over it now. Everyone’s pretty nice and respectful to him these days, but he had to shatter everything to get here.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Correct. Ovechkin, Gretzky and Bossy are all tied with nine 50 goal seasons.

Lemieux, Lafleur and Dionne have six 50 goal seasons each. Both Hulls (father and son), Yzerman, Bure and Esposito have five each.

The only other active players with multiple 50 goal seasons are Draisaitl (3x), and then Stamkos and Matthews (2x).

When Ovie came into the league, it would have been inconceivable to suggest a player would have ten 50-goal seasons within the next generation.

 

[SherVaughn30]

Correct. Ovechkin, Gretzky and Bossy are all tied with nine 50 goal seasons.

Lemieux, Lafleur and Dionne have six 50 goal seasons each. Both Hulls (father and son), Yzerman, Bure and Esposito have five each.

The only other active players with multiple 50 goal seasons are Draisaitl (3x), and then Stamkos and Matthews (2x).

Just a remarkable stat with Bossy. He scored 50 or more in 9 straight seasons!

 

[SherVaughn30]

The weird obsession with downplaying and dismissing Ovechkin’s accomplishments started pretty much day one of his career, and has never stopped. Early in his career it was that he was dirty or lazy or could never be a captain or could never win the big game or whatever other absurdly subjective complaints they could come up with. I’m not sure if it was a weird Don Cherry thing, or a Canada-wide thing, or what, but I’ve never seen a collective fan base AND STRUGGLING PROFESSIONAL LEAGUE more unappreciative and dismissive and actively hostile towards what was at the time by far its most dynamic and interesting and highlight-reel generating player!!!


Just an amazing triumph of curmudgeon reactionaries over pure generational talent. Most of the games Ovi missed were due to absurd suspensions over clean hits. The NHL wanted their most interesting and amazing player to fail.

They’re over it now. Everyone’s pretty nice and respectful to him these days, but he had to shatter everything to get here.

A long those lines, OV started the jump into the glass celebration after scoring a goal.

 

[Bombshell11]

Impressive how McDavid is not even close

 

[JianYang]

39 years of age and ovehckin is still blowing my mind.

 

[Bizz]

The weird obsession with downplaying and dismissing Ovechkin’s accomplishments started pretty much day one of his career, and has never stopped. Early in his career it was that he was dirty or lazy or could never be a captain or could never win the big game or whatever other absurdly subjective complaints they could come up with. I’m not sure if it was a weird Don Cherry thing, or a Canada-wide thing, or what, but I’ve never seen a collective fan base AND STRUGGLING PROFESSIONAL LEAGUE more unappreciative and dismissive and actively hostile towards what was at the time by far its most dynamic and interesting and highlight-reel generating player!!!


Just an amazing triumph of curmudgeon reactionaries over pure generational talent. Most of the games Ovi missed were due to absurd suspensions for clean hits. The NHL wanted their most interesting and amazing player to fail.

They’re over it now. Everyone’s pretty nice and respectful to him these days, but he had to shatter everything to get here.

oh I get it. I've spent my fair share of time making posts in defense of Joe Thornton over the years. It's just amazing how many people don't take the L and move on after being nothing but objectively wrong the entire time.

Just a remarkable stat with Bossy. He scored 50 or more in 9 straight seasons!

amazing what happens when you play in a league in an era where a 3+ GAA and a .850 save percentage were Vezina numbers.

 

[Karl Eriksson]

Best goal scorer of all time soon, and top 5 player all time

 

[Hockey Outsider]

When Ovie came into the league, it would have been inconceivable to suggest a player would have ten 50-goal seasons within the next generation.

Agreed. The only way I would have thought it would happen, was if scoring levels increased to what we saw in the 1980's to early 1990's. In other words - sure, maybe Ovechkin could get nine 50 goal seasons, but presumably a bunch of other players would at least have five or six seasons.

Nine 50 goal seasons combined with nine Rocket Richard titles shows that nobody else is even close. (From 2008 to 2021, a span of 14 seasons, Ovechkin singlehandedly has almost as many 50 goal seasons as every other player in the NHL combined - 7 vs 8).

(Besides, just looking at the raw numbers puts Ovechkin at a disadvantage. 50 goals in the 2010's was vastly more difficult to achieve than 50 goals in the 1980's. Under this simple method - did he reach 50 or not? - Ovechkin is essentially getting zero credit for very strong seasons like 2013, 2018 and 2020. All of those would easily be 50+ goal seasons, and probably 60+ goal seasons, if you adjust them to the schedule length and scoring levels that Bossy and Gretzky had in the 1980).

 

[potatowejj]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1855419356861067659

What a bullet. Still has one of the best releases in the game on the wrister/snapshot too.

 

[Fallschirmyager]

When Ovie came into the league, it would have been inconceivable to suggest a player would have ten 50-goal seasons within the next generation.

Nobody expected him to have the goal scoring plateau for as high or certainly not as long as he has. This is the failed argument of those thinking any of the young slingers have a chance of catching Ovy and is the same one that was applied to Ovy early on. Nobody is going to score Gretzky level goals in a year again so longevity is key and the normal goals scorer prime is rather short. Unless your name is Ovechkin. Perfect example is Stamkos. Still a really good goal scorer but lost a lot of time to injury and even when healthy hasn't been consistently elite outside of his prime. Lets see these guys keep those totals up after 30 like Ovy has and we can talk.

 

[User9992]

Nobody expected him to have the goal scoring plateau for as high or certainly not as long as he has. This is the failed argument of those thinking any of the young slingers have a chance of catching Ovy and is the same one that was applied to Ovy early on. Nobody is going to score Gretzky level goals in a year again so longevity is key and the normal goals scorer prime is rather short. Unless your name is Ovechkin. Perfect example is Stamkos. Still a really good goal scorer but lost a lot of time to injury and even when healthy hasn't been consistently elite outside of his prime. Lets see these guys keep those totals up after 30 like Ovy has and we can talk.

Yep. All eyes on Matthews.

 

[pezpunk]

Matthews — and it’s not his fault at all — has never had to face the kind of institutional disdain and hate that Ovi has. I wonder if people even remember how many times over his career that Ovi has been written off as a bust or a cancer. Just pure stupid insanity, not from an unhinged messageboard fringe, but from mainstream major network pontificators.

 

[Calderon]

Denis Maruk holds the Caps record with 136 pts. Strome is on a pace to reach 128. OV's most scored goals in a season is 65. Right now with 10 in 14, he's on a pace to reach 58 total. As a Caps fan, I don't think either will come close to those numbers, but I love what they are doing right now.

I'll be ecstatic if Ovi gets 50 and Strome amasses 90 points. As for single season franchise records I'll, dunno, shit my pants if we'll see any of those getting broken. Can't imagine Ovi breaking any of his personal bests at this age. One that he's on pace right now is even strength goals (PB 43, pace 46.9). I do expect the Caps PP to improve and thus Ovi will score more on the PP and a less in even strength.

In the same vein, the aura around the Caps is amazing right now, there's a feeling that anything can happen.

Edit: Corrected the ESG PB number.

 

[User9992]

I'll be ecstatic if Ovi gets 50 and Strome amasses 90 points. As for single season franchise records I'll, dunno, shit my pants if we'll see any of those getting broken. Can't imagine Ovi breaking any of his personal bests at this age. One that he's on pace right now is even strength goals (PB 45, pace 46.9). I do expect the Caps PP to improve and thus Ovi will score more on the PP and a less in even strength.

In the same vein, the aura around the Caps is amazing right now, there's a feeling that anything can happen.

Don't know about 50 goals, but 40 goals seems reachable. Cause everytime Ovi scored 10 goals in his first 14 games he scored over 40 goals in a season.

 

[BallardEra]

He last scored 50 goals in 2021-22.

He started that season with 10 goals in his first 10 games and had 12 goals and 24 points after his first 14 games.

This season he has 10 goals and 18 points after 14 games.

GAA for that season was 2.92 and SV% was .907

GAA for this season is 2.91 and SV% is .899

 

[zappa4ever]

If only OV were a "good ol' Canadian boy" he'd have God-status at this point

Somehow the 1972 Summit hate has metastasized for many over decades and the hate has been handed down and instilled over generations to some

 

[User9992]

If only OV were a "good ol' Canadian boy" he'd have God-status at this point

Somehow the 1972 Summit hate has metastasized for many over decades and the hate has been handed down and instilled over generations to some

I don't get how 1972 Series made Canadians hate Soviets/Russians.

Canadians were playing dirty trying just to bully/injury Soviet players. They tried to hunt down Kharlamov pretty bad & they did it succesfully.

 

[Randyne]

If only OV were a "good ol' Canadian boy" he'd have God-status at this point

Absolutely.
His trophy case would be second only to Gretzky with 4-5 Harts, 3 Rosses, 10 Rockets (3 TL, Calder and Smythe).