Will Ovi breaking Gretzky's goalscoring record change or influence his legacy?

[dukeofjive]

Gretz will always be the greatest hockey player in nhl history.

And ovy will become the greatest goal scorer in hockey history.

 

[JPeeper]

Ovechkin has been the greatest goal scorer for a while now.

Ovechkin has been blasting 50 goals a season against goalies the size of the Michelin Man for a decade now and has 9 Rockets to his name. Gretz was scoring goals taking uncontested slap shots from the blue line.

It isn't even a debate how much better Ovy is than anyone else at scoring goals.

If there were no lockout seasons Ovy easily finishes his career over 1000 goals.

 

[wetcoast]

Ovie cemented his legacy with his PutinTeam.

I wonder if this will really affect his elegancy, hard to say at this point really.

IMO he is the best goal scorer of all time but his legacy has pretty much been set as such and as an all time player the goal scoring record will have little or no impact on his legacy either way even if a few people are trying to make it so.

 

[Cubs2024wildcard]

I just don’t understand this mentality. I mean, maybe it’s the case for casual sports fans or fans 60-70 years in the future, but people don’t forget players who were at the top of the league for years and years. Just look at the 90s nostalgia on this site for far less accomplished players. Plus, Ovechkin and Crosby are so linked as players (see this thread) that whatever benefits one’s legacy benefits them both



This is the stupidest thing I’ve seen on this forum

 

[Jedub]

It will become the first thing people mention about him.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

........because it doesn't align with what YOU think? lol

The old man will either do it, or he won't. I'm going with won't.

You not wanting him to break the record doesn’t make OP’s question a moot point, the possibility is real whether you like it or not

 

[Holymakinaw]

You not wanting him to break the record doesn’t make OP’s question a moot point, the possibility is real whether you like it or not

I don't care if he breaks the record or not. But my opinion is that he's getting too old, and will slow down and deal with injuries. So he won't get it. It's okay......it's not an attack on you or any of his other fans or anything. It's an opinion. A correct opinion.

 

[BlueMed]

His legacy will already be that he is the greatest goal scorer ever.

Beating Gretzky's record would more just cement the legacy, rather than change anything about it.

You would think, but most people just look at points at face value rather than within the contextual realities of present time.

 

[M2Beezy]

My whole post was about peak, not quantity. I think your post accurately supports that point.


At the very least anyone that actively participated in the Kremlin's anti-Ukraine propaganda, regardless of nationality, should not be playing. The NHL is hoping nobody notices.

March 2022

 

[Non Player Canadiens]

Will breaking goal scoring record & finishing with 900 goals will change his legacy?

yes?

 

[Berri UQAM]

His legacy will already be that he is the greatest goal scorer ever.

Beating Gretzky's record would more just cement the legacy, rather than change anything about it.

Joe Malone will continue to be the greatest goal scorer in NHL history. He had 143 goals in 126 regular season games, and 20 goals in 12 playoff games. He scored his goals in an era when forward passes were restricted, which made it harder for players to generate offense. Moreover, in Malone's day, teams did not pull goalies, so his goal scoring stats are not inflated by empty-net goals.

Ovechkin will never be a better goal scorer than Joe Malone.

 

[Sempiternal]

I'd bump Ovechkin ahead of Howe (all-time) if he breaks Gretzky's goal record. He's already ahead of Crosby for me.

 

[andrjusha]

It will shift the balance in OV vs Crosby vs Jagr vs McDavid comparisons.
(McD could still influence it both ways, next 4 yrs will tell us as well).
OV will stand out in this tier of players very obvious way.

 

[Deadpool8812]

It's unfortunate that OV has had to deal with multiple shortened/cancelled seasons as well. If I recall, Gretzky just had the one shortened season to deal with

 

[Weztex]

Who cares about awards?

You are looking at statistical fact that when OV beats Gretzky in all time goals, it doesn’t matter if it’s 1 or 1000, goals being the most important aspect of hockey, OV is the GOAT.

Like it or not, there’s nothing anybody can do about it once OV breaks the record.

I'd like to see Patrick Marleau's reaction when he finally learns that he's a better player than Jean Beliveau and Maurice Richard.

Talking about goals, how many of Gretzky's 2857 points weren't recorded on a goal by his team? Last I heard you don't get assists on offsides and takeaways.

 

[T REX]

No. Gretzky's legacy is carved in granite as one of the sports mount rushmore.

Ovi will always be seond to Gretzky.

 

[logan5]

It will greatly improve ovechkin's legacy if he breaks the record and ends his career with 900+ goals. ovechkin is automatically a top 5 player all time and there's no chance of anybody trying to argue crosby over Ovechkin after that!

Gretzky's legacy on the other hand will take a hit too, as he will seem much more human after his record is broken.

If he breaks Gretzky's record for goals, an arguement could easily be made that he is top 3.. Scoring goals si more difficult and are more valuable than assists. The guy is an incredible machine, still scoring 50 goals a season at age 36.

 

[T REX]

I’m going to laugh when Ovechkin breaks Gretzky record.

When that moment comes, and it will, Ovechkin becomes the greatest player of all time and there’s nothing anybody can do to stop it.

Just here at this forum alone, there’s players extremely over rated on account of this era (Crosby a top ten player of all time? lol) and when OV does something that was for a short period of time thought to be unbeatable, it’s going to make a lot of people upset.

I also have the belief Canadians, as a whole, think hockey is their sport and here a Russian born player suddenly swipes that title away with an outstanding career that topples the golden boy Gretzky, and I’m sorry, they sure don’t pay money to watch somebody accumulate secondary assists.

Goals for the win.

#GOOVIGO

What a misplaces post. No. Sorry. He can have more goals than Gretzky and stillbe ranked below him.

Rightly so...

TGO>Ovi

Run a poll...I net it's at minmum 75% Gretzky

SMDH

 

[YippieKaey]

Except Gretzky did it while recording almost 2,000 assists… not 600.

And in the 1980s when goalies where 5'9 with basically the same pads as skaters.

Scoring 50 goals a year for twenty years does not necessarily make you the best goal-scorer of all time. It makes you very consistent and long-lasting. Do an era-adjusted ranking, and there's a shmozzle of players with peaks in the same neighborhood, including Hull, Lemieux, Esposito, and Gretzky. Ovechkin will always be one of the best in that framework, but his consistency and longevity do not necessarily imply he had the greatest peak.

So holding the all-time record would matter a great deal to his legacy. It's one thing that he can hold that can't be disputed or qualified.

Gretzky's claim to the title is still meaningful even if Ovechkin passes him, though. Because Gretzky hit such an absurd number while goalscoring was an ancillary aspect of his offensive game. If he'd tried to play a more one-dimensional game, he might have hit 1000, while being a much less effective player overall. So there's always going to be an argument about raw talent and impact on the game at your peak.

When adjusting for era, Ovi has alreaddy broken Gretzkys record. FYI

 

[YippieKaey]

Gretzky is obviously the undisputed best player of the game ever, and will remain so. Lemieux had a shot but didn't reach the same levels neither in peak, prime or longevity.

But if Ovi scores 895, he must certainly be considered top 5 all time. Anything else would be pretty dishonest.

 

[Deadpool8812]

No. Gretzky's legacy is carved in granite as one of the sports mount rushmore.

Ovi will always be seond to Gretzky.

Overall? Sure, but in terms of a goalscorer...we'll have to wait and see. Lots of arguments already for him being the greater goalscorer

 

[Pizza!Pizza!]

It won't change his legacy because you lovable and oh-so-tolerant Canadians tend to be biased against non-Canadian players when it comes to records/all-time greats. Even if Ovi scores 1000 goals people will still argue Lemieux would have had more if he'd been able to play as many games (which is actually probably true).

Same reason many of the USSR players do not get the same recognition as the greats from Hockey's 'golden era' even though they were clearly better. Its all subjective analysis and comparisons.

 

[HungryFrank]

I wonder how Caps passing their prime will influence him

 

[ijuka]

I don't think it should have much effect on his legacy, considering that Gretzky's a playmaker first and foremost, and essentially just happened to score the most goals in NHL history.

Ovechkin's main thing over Gretzky is his durability - Gretzky never was the same since 1991.

 

[tfwnogf]

He will go down as greatest goal scorer in history. He will break gretzky record, hell he might stay in the league until he breaks 1000 goals. Politics is not important when considering a player's legacy to the game. Only whiny people think it matters. Ovi will be immortalized by being the greatest goal scoring machine the sport has ever known. End of story.