What probability do you feel Ovechkin has to catch Gretzky now?

[RuthlessLieutenant]

Only 11 more to catch Marcel Dionne for 5th all-time

 

[filinski77]

So if the Gretzky of. 92 goal season played a season today, what do you think he would put in the net?

Less than 92, considering that scoring is significantly lower now. Now maybe that 92 is 72, which is still crazy good. But definitely a lot lower.

 

[aufheben]

I cannot wait until this motherf***er retires, and that should be taken as nothing other than the highest possible praise. It feels like he’s been there my entire. f***ing. life

Scoring goals in the NHL should not be that easy. It is literally unfair.

 

[Northerner]

Less than 92, considering that scoring is significantly lower now. Now maybe that 92 is 72, which is still crazy good. But definitely a lot lower.

With all the Hall of Famers. on his team and line?

 

[Northerner]

It seems like this Era hockey fans don't want to admit that the greats of the past just might have been that good...maybe Gretzky was/is light years better than anyone who has strapped on blades since him....

 

[HurricaneFanatic]

174 away.. His demise, once again greatly exaggerated.

 

[VVP]

Prior to Europeans joining the NHL in high quantity number of elite defensemen in the NHL was low. Add to it quality of goaltending you get higher scoring. Prime Gretzky right now would have been a solid point getter but he would struggle getting anywhere close to 40 goals in his prime. Prime Mario was a better scorer.

 

[Dondini]

He is now scoring at a 44 goal over 82 game pace. Should be at that 50 pace by the end of the season. Nothing new and nothing to see here, ovechkin just doing what he does.

he’s 174 goals away, should be roughly 160 at the end of the season. If he wants to break the record he has to play 4-5 more years and more likely 5.

At 5 years left would take him to the end of his 40 year old season. At 160 goals left after this year he would have to average 32 goals a year. I think that’s very realisti

 

[Beukeboom]

Prior to Europeans joining the NHL in high quantity number of elite defensemen in the NHL was low. Add to it quality of goaltending you get higher scoring. Prime Gretzky right now would have been a solid point getter but he would struggle getting anywhere close to 40 goals in his prime. Prime Mario was a better scorer.

Thirty-forty years from now, someone will write "Ovechkin's prime was before hockey got big in Asia. There were no nifty Chinese defensemen back then. Ovie would score around 25 goals a season had he played today (read 2055). I hope you can be there to defend Ovie, and at the same time realize you own Wayne an apology.

 

[Sentinel]

Prior to Europeans joining the NHL in high quantity number of elite defensemen in the NHL was low. Add to it quality of goaltending you get higher scoring. Prime Gretzky right now would have been a solid point getter but he would struggle getting anywhere close to 40 goals in his prime. Prime Mario was a better scorer.

In the middle of DPE, with plenty of Europeans playing, an old, broken shell of Gretzky lead his team in goals on its way to the Conference Finals.

A young, healthy, motivated Gretzky would tear this league apart, in goals, assists, points, and everything else.

 

[AD1066]

It seems like this Era hockey fans don't want to admit that the greats of the past just might have been that good...maybe Gretzky was/is light years better than anyone who has strapped on blades since him....

Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best one. A sport matured over the course of 40 years, as players began training at younger ages, goalies got better and lighter equipment, European players joined the talent pool, top players began to play fewer minutes as the pace of the game increased, and a salary cap prevented dream teams from being assembled.

You can remove Gretzky and Lemieux from the history books and the number of goals scored per game in the mid-1980s would still be 30-40% higher than it is today.

11 of the top 20 scorers of all-time were born in the same five year period from 1960 and 1965, and that's no coincidence.

 

[kmart]

It seems like this Era hockey fans don't want to admit that the greats of the past just might have been that good...maybe Gretzky was/is light years better than anyone who has strapped on blades since him....

that is why ovi needs to break the goal record, so u cant make this claim anymore, for goal scoring that is.

 

[HurricaneFanatic]

He is now scoring at a 44 goal over 82 game pace. Should be at that 50 pace by the end of the season. Nothing new and nothing to see here, ovechkin just doing what he does.

he’s 174 goals away, should be roughly 160 at the end of the season. If he wants to break the record he has to play 4-5 more years and more likely 5.

At 5 years left would take him to the end of his 40 year old season. At 160 goals left after this year he would have to average 32 goals a year. I think that’s very realisti

He will have to slow down a lot just to be only 160 back at the end of this year. I mean, granted he won't stay this hot the rest of the year, but still.

 

[BallardEra]

I think even getting to 800 career goals would be an insane accomplishment for Ovie.

That’s like getting 50 goals 16 times. (When you average it out of course)

Pretty insane.

 

[HurricaneFanatic]

In the middle of DPE, with plenty of Europeans playing, an old, broken shell of Gretzky lead his team in goals on its way to the Conference Finals.

A young, healthy, motivated Gretzky would tear this league apart, in goals, assists, points, and everything else.

Oh yeah, in Hockey right now? Wayne would be the best player in the league, and it's not close. Sure, goals are still harder to come by than the 80s arguably, but it has opened up a lot since the 90s and early 2000's. It's a scoring league again.

 

[Confused Turnip]

Prior to Europeans joining the NHL in high quantity number of elite defensemen in the NHL was low. Add to it quality of goaltending you get higher scoring. Prime Gretzky right now would have been a solid point getter but he would struggle getting anywhere close to 40 goals in his prime. Prime Mario was a better scorer.

First half true, second half big nopers. Gretzky wouldn't get 92 obviously, but no way he doesn't put together some 50+ goal seasons.

 

[HurricaneFanatic]

I still just wish Wayne never got injured and enjoyed an injury free career like Ovi.
I have said it before and I'll say it again, I know injuries are part of it and I don't hold that against Ovechkin, if anything, it's a tribute to him.
I just don't think the goal record would be talked about if Gretzky never had the bad back.

Oh well, even if Ovi breaks the goal record, his goals and assist combined still wouldn't equal Wayne's assist alone total, so there is that. haha

 

[gtrower]

I still just wish Wayne never got injured and enjoyed an injury free career like Ovi.
I have said it before and I'll say it again, I know injuries are part of it and I don't hold that against Ovechkin, if anything, it's a tribute to him.
I just don't think the goal record would be talked about if Gretzky never had the bad back.

Oh well, even if Ovi breaks the goal record, his goals and assist combined still wouldn't equal Wayne's assist alone total, so there is that. haha

Ovis played through injuries normal guys don’t. His durability is one of the things that makes him an all-time great. RMNB.

 

[RuthlessLieutenant]

It seems like this Era hockey fans don't want to admit that the greats of the past just might have been that good...maybe Gretzky was/is light years better than anyone who has strapped on blades since him....

 

[MadLuke]

Prior to Europeans joining the NHL in high quantity number of elite defensemen in the NHL was low. Add to it quality of goaltending you get higher scoring. Prime Gretzky right now would have been a solid point getter but he would struggle getting anywhere close to 40 goals in his prime. Prime Mario was a better scorer.

Gretzky still scored 10 goals in 15 playoff games in 1997, after Suter affair he had issue to sustain over complete season hyper elite play but he still had streaks of it.




I think he would peak above 50 in todays nhl without much issues.

 

[Confused Turnip]

It seems like this Era hockey fans don't want to admit that the greats of the past just might have been that good...maybe Gretzky was/is light years better than anyone who has strapped on blades since him....

There's a period of high scoring that starts post expansion (ie talent dilution) in the '70s and goes until the dead puck era kicks in during the early '90s. Of the top 20 individual goal scoring seasons in NHL history... 20 of them fall during that period. As do the next 3. Then you have Ovi's 65 goal season, then you have another 13 seasons from that period. You really think there were 10-12 Ovechkin level scorers and several beyond him during this period, and not that scoring might just have been a tad inflated?

You can do the same trick with assists or points. It's not like Crosby is a worse playmaker than Mark Recchi, but despite being a C his peak points are behind Recchi's.

 

[gamer1035]

Gretzky still scored 10 goals in 15 playoff games in 1997, after Suter affair he had issue to sustain over complete season hyper elite play but he still had streaks of it.




I think he would peak above 50 in todays nhl without much issues.

I look forward to seeing boomer reactions in the Ovi 895 thread in a couple years.

 

[MadLuke]

I look forward to seeing boomer reactions in the Ovi 895 thread in a couple years.

I think people will enter Ovechkin would have never scored in that 2023 NHL mode by then, he is lucky to have scored them 15 year's ago.

 

[Hatfield]

With all the Hall of Famers. on his team and line?

He kinda made them HOFers though. You think Kurri (600 goals) gets even 500 and multiple Cups without Gretzky as his linemate for most of career? Or Fuhr? Even Paul Coffey wouldn’t be a lock, I don’t think.

 

[shtorm2005]

Thirty-forty years from now, someone will write "Ovechkin's prime was before hockey got big in Asia. There were no nifty Chinese defensemen back then. Ovie would score around 25 goals a season had he played today (read 2055). I hope you can be there to defend Ovie, and at the same time realize you own Wayne an apology.

Hockey evolution is not linear. Players trains at body limit right now, I don't see how hockey in 30-40 years can get a bigger step than from Gretzky's era to now.