Will Ovechkin hit 20 goals this season?

[CarolinaBlueJacket]

He failed to score against weak CBJ team in 2 games out of 4 last season. In recent game only miracle saved CBJ from 2 Oveckin goals and after that you write things like this. Very strange

I know this is going way back in the thread, but I haven't logged in for a while.
Just telling you what I saw. I love Ovi, but he was invisible. I know you were trying to insult me by calling CBJ a weak team... Gee I didn't know that. Thanks for the info. Anyway, since they are so weak then it makes my point that he did not look good.
Again I love Ovi, not here to debate that.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

If you want to talk politics, it doesn't belong here.

I've heard that Ellen Musk shithole site loves it - go there.

 

[Sykur]

There are 2 obvious reasons
1) the one everyone knows about but won't be mentioned

2) the zealousness of an extremely vocal minority that think Ovi owning the goal scoring title will someone make him a better player than Crosby.

Personally I don't really care if he breaks the record as I've had him as the best goal scorer in history for several years now but his recent overall play and top line deployment doesn't exactly cast the best light on this quest.

I'll be honest: I used to hate Ovi. Ever since World Juniors, just another in a long line of self-righteous primadonna Russians.

But over the years he matured a little. Okay, a lot. He was the only one to stop and face the media after their disastrous performance against Canada in the 2010 Olympics (the whole team locked their dressing room and refused to talk to anyone). I'm sure he didn't want to do that, but he grit his teeth and did it anyway. Russians hate admitting their faults and shortcomings, so that took guts, courage, and humility.

So over the years he won me over. What I thought was arrogance and conceitedness was actually passion and heart. He hates losing, and he loves scoring. No one cellies better than him, he has a genuine childlike exuberance every time he scores, no matter how many times he does it.

That, and his celly with the Cup when the Caps finally won was just about the most hilarious thing I'd ever seen. He wouldn't let go of the Cup for days, he hit every bar and club in town with it. I joked at the time that when St. Louis won the Cup the year afterward they would have to hoist Ovi hoisting the Cup because he still hadn't let go of it. Letterkenny hit the nail on the head: Ovi raised the bar for Cup cellies. There will never be anything like Ovi winning the Cup ever again.

So shine on you crazy Russian. Chase that record. You deserve it. And the one person who will be there to celly it with you will be the Great One himself.

 

[T REX]

There are some posts in this thread making it very clear people don't want a Russian to hold the record.

I'm going to disagree. There are many reasons why a person might not want Ovi to hold the record...IMHO, that him being a Russian is a very low on the list. And extremely racist. Thankfully with Bettman, we have one of the best Diversity initiatives in sports! Hockey for Everyone!

Being from Detroit we loved our Russians. If you put up 5 different reasons why someone didn't want Ovi to grab the record this would finish dead last.

You are looking in the wrong place.

 

[The Panther]

Thankfully with Bettman, we have one of the best Diversity initiatives in sports!

If by "diversity", you mean all types of gambling welcome....

 

[T REX]

If by "diversity", you mean all types of gambling welcome....

They do take money that to some might be a morally grey area.

It's a sponsor. Players shouldn't be allowed to gamble on anything.

Just for the simple fact that should they go into massive debt, it can leveraged against them to commit some kind of game manipulation through a number of ways.

It is definitely an odd partnership. 100%

 

[HTFN]

Its pretty embarrassing for a team to sell out for a personal record. Maybe OV is struggling this year seeing an entire franchise change their objective from winning to getting a player a personal record. Or maybe he's grown a conscience and he feels bad about celebrating a war criminal.

As a fan of competitive sports, I am embarrassed for Washington fans.

By.

Doing.

What?

Give me one single thing.

 

[DRW895]

I know this is going way back in the thread, but I haven't logged in for a while.
Just telling you what I saw. I love Ovi, but he was invisible. I know you were trying to insult me by calling CBJ a weak team... Gee I didn't know that. Thanks for the info. Anyway, since they are so weak then it makes my point that he did not look good.
Again I love Ovi, not here to debate that.

I don`t know you. So, why I must insult you? CBJ is a weak team most of their seasons since they came in NHL

 

[SkinsFan09]

I really don't get the narrative that the Capitals are "selling out to get him the record at the expense of the franchise."

This a season after the looked in the mirror and said we need young players and assets badly, punting on a playoff run, trading proven veterans at the deadline. Then they get rid of a veteran-focused coach and go with an unknown AHL guy who has coached some of their prospects and will likely (scratch that - 100% over Laviolette) be able to develop their 7+ players under 25 this season.

Every move they've made in the past year signals that they are prioritizing the franchise's long-term success. They have a couple leftovers from the Cup run and a ton of unproven young players they are trusting to grow on the fly. A brand new system that as we saw a few weeks ago, is taking a while to get the hang of.

None of these moves say "who cares, as long as Ovechkin gets to 895"

 

[filinski77]

I really don't get the narrative that the Capitals are "selling out to get him the record at the expense of the franchise."

This a season after the looked in the mirror and said we need young players and assets badly, punting on a playoff run, trading proven veterans at the deadline. Then they get rid of a veteran-focused coach and go with an unknown AHL guy who has coached some of their prospects and will likely (scratch that - 100% over Laviolette) be able to develop their 7+ players under 25 this season.

Every move they've made in the past year signals that they are prioritizing the franchise's long-term success. They have a couple leftovers from the Cup run and a ton of unproven young players they are trusting to grow on the fly. A brand new system that as we saw a few weeks ago, is taking a while to get the hang of.

None of these moves say "who cares, as long as Ovechkin gets to 895"

Yeah these people are out to lunch and strictly just looking for random excuses to shit on Ovi.

1) The Caps are NOT trading away draft capital in order to try and trade for high quality players to help Ovi get the record. They have had their first and second rounders in each of the last 2 drafts, and 2 3rds in the 2022 draft. They didn't have a first rounder in 2021, but DID in the 3 previous years before that.

2) The Caps have been penciled in to be BAD this year, and don't really have the starpower to really even HELP Ovechkin pile up goals (Ovechkin leads the forward group in assists with 7, and 2nd place is a tie between Kuznetsov and Wilson with 5 each). Despite this very low quality team, the Caps are like 11th in points with Ovechkin leading the team in points

3) For the few PERSISTENT posters who always talk about Ovechkin getting way too much ice time and PP time. Who do you really think deserves that ice time instead of Ovechkin? The forward group sucks and Ovi is still their best offensive weapon.

 

[pi314]

The only reason the 80s were the easiest time to score goals is because that’s when the Great One arrived on the scene.

You might be ignorant of the “Four-Minute Mile Barrier.” Sir Roger Bannister was the first person to run a mile in under four minutes in 1954, breaking a perceived barrier. After that achievement, others began to achieve the same feat, illustrating the psychological impact of surpassing perceived limits.

I love Gretzky but no way...

This was the size of goalie equipment in the 1980's.

This is the size of goalie equipment today.

There are less goals overall and less net to shoot at.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

I love Gretzky but no way...

This was the size of goalie equipment in the 1980's.

This is the size of goalie equipment today.

There are less goals overall and less net to shoot at.

Man, I wish I could find the post from a few years back that really exaggerates (for effect) that whenever people post these comparisons, they always show a head on shot from the old days and a heavily angled shot from today.

 

[Treb]

Father Time is undefeated.

People in here thinking he was going to continue some 30-40 goal seasons.

I'll say 16 goals. Next year a dozen. Then done.

Possibly more depending on how many empty net chances Washington gets. That's when he kicks into gear.

He is on pace for 25 goals this year. Wednesday he was at 16.

He's not going to shoot sub-4% all year.

 

[DRW895]

If you disagree thath Ovechkin is done - what a teenager behaviour from "brutal viking"

 

[PlushMinus]

If you disagree thath Ovechkin is done - what a teenager behaviour from "brutal viking"

Am I the only person here who's going to need more of an explanation of this post??

 

[DRW895]

Am I the only person here who's going to need more of an explanation of this post??

As head of eliteprospect he wrote in twitter someting like "Ovechkin is over". And then he blocked access to his page after my comment "... serious sport anchor shouldn`t behave himself like hyping teenager". Not big drama, just silly.

 

[max21]

I wish the people that come to these threads would just blatantly come out and say they don’t like Ovechkin and want him to fail. There is obvious jealousy/threat to Crosbys legacy or something in between. Or at least have a logical argument on how Ovechkin goals hurt the team, or how that actually makes any sense.

 

[Metroid]

I wish the people that come to these threads would just blatantly come out and say they don’t like Ovechkin and want him to fail. There is obvious jealousy/threat to Crosbys legacy or something in between. Or at least have a logical argument on how Ovechkin goals hurt the team, or how that actually makes any sense.

I don't like ovi and want him to fail.

 

[TooManyHumans]

Yeah, it has to be Crosby's fault that anyone could dislike Ovechkin. Ovechkin has never given anyone any reason whatsoever to not like him.

 

[Randyne]

Yeah, it has to be Crosby's fault that anyone could dislike Ovechkin. Ovechkin has never given anyone any reason whatsoever to not like him.

According to your nickname (TooManyHumans) his birth is the reason to not like him (or anyone else).

 

[TooManyHumans]

According to your nickname (TooManyHumans) his birth is the reason to not like him (or anyone else).

I mean, humans pretty clearly suck.

 

[max21]

Yeah, it has to be Crosby's fault that anyone could dislike Ovechkin. Ovechkin has never given anyone any reason whatsoever to not like him.

Okaye, I’m talking about people saying Washington is selling out for a personal record, he’s hurting the team etc. You don’t like Ovechkin, that’s fine. But how does that other stuff actually make any sense especially with Ovechkin passing like he is this year.

 

[DRW895]

Yeah, it has to be Crosby's fault that anyone could dislike Ovechkin. Ovechkin has never given anyone any reason whatsoever to not like him.

Crosby gave much more reasons. For example it was too much noise about Fredrick episode, but where was attention to O`Raily and Marc Methot incidents?

 

[TooManyHumans]

Crosby gave much more reasons. For example it was too much noise about Fredrick episode, but where was attention to O`Raily and Marc Methot incidents?

I'm not allowed on here to give one really good reason that a lot of people dislike Ovechkin. Doesn't change the reality out there in the real world, though, and has absolutely nothing to do with Crosby. I mean, other than Crosby not giving a similar reason for people to dislike him.

 

[hockeykicker]

blue jackets defense like some of the posters here, dont think he can do it so they dont guard him lol