Ovechkin is already, by miles, the greatest scorer of all time

It’s completely insane that Alex Ovechkin can break Wayne Gretzky’s record of 894 goals. It’s superhuman and it defies all odds.

Imagine how difficult it is to score a goal in the NHL. Imagine scoring more than 30 per year for 18 years. And sometimes 40. Sometimes 50. Even 65, once.

Imagine missing almost no game in 18 years. Not just during series because it’s important. Almost never. A gastro? No problem. Much fever? He’s going to jump on the ice. The shoulder that landed the day before? No problem, Ovi will be in uniform.

I got these examples after a series of interviews with Quebecers who had contact with the Russian marker. My colleague Jonathan Bernier did the same thing. We spoke to his former protector, another who lifted the cup with him, a defenseman who played with Ovechkin during his incredible rookie season, and so on. You will see. It gives a great idea of ​​what Alexander Ovechkin is.

From this year?

He will beat Wayne Gretzky’s record of around thirty goals. He already has 10 and is running at a pace of 58 this season. It seems impossible to me that he will do the same this year. But the chances of him making 40 aren’t impossible. Nothing seems impossible for him.

And even though he hasn’t surpassed 99, Ovechkin can already be considered the greatest scorer of all time.

To do this, we must compare the eras. Okay, I hear you. We cannot compare eras.

In fact, for certain facets, yes, we very well can. Because certain statistics that go beyond goals and assists existed in Wayne’s era.

Especially the statistic of the percentage of shots that find the back of the net. This is the most relevant.

Another world in front of the net

Goaltending in the Wayne Gretzky era, especially in his prime, was incomparable to those in the Alex Ovechkin era. I went to dig through it all with my calculator.

During Gretzky’s first 10 years in the NHL, the average save percentage for goalies (40 games or more) ranged from .875 to .888. The goals against average ranged from 3.26 to 3.76.

In Ovechkin’s first 10 seasons, his average save percentage ranged from .903 to .918. The goals against average varied from 2.41 to 2.85.

During Gretzky’s years, if we take the top 50 players with the percentage of shots that find the back of the net, among those who played more than 800 games, they hit the target between 17 and 23%.

During Ovechkin’s years, the top 50 was between 13 and 18%.

In other words, during the Gretzky years, when you shot on goal, you had 5% more chance of scoring than during the Ovechkin years. That doesn’t seem like much. But when you throw between 300 and 400 times per season like the Russian, it’s a huge difference.

Gretzky’s career rate is 17.6%. No. 8 Washington Capitals is at 12.9%.

Let’s reverse the eras and the success rates: Ovechkin would be at 1173 goals. Gretzky would be at 656.

And let’s not forget that Ovechkin missed 167 games due to lockouts and the pandemic. Gretzky missed 64 because of the 1994-95 lockout.

If we add the missed matches, he reaches 1,300 goals exactly.

Insane

Is this fabrication? It looks like it. Even I couldn’t believe it when I saw this number. But, that’s the reality. That’s the excess of this “scoring” machine. This is the incredible Ovechkin phenomenon.

Of course, Wayne Gretzky didn’t have Ovechkin’s state-of-the-art ultra-light stick. But I feel like he still would have had a devastating throw in the 80s? No? I think Brett Hull would have gone second.

And I’m writing all this for Ovechkin. But we agree, Wayne Gretzky still has 1,258 more assists than him. So the biggest, I know very well that it will always remain the 99.

That said, for a player in this day and age to be able to break a record that dates back to the time when goalies stood with 108-pound pads leaking, it’s insane and it shows how lucky we are to see the history of hockey will be written with him.

Imagine how crazy it is that this guy is still able to score. In his first year, Cristobal Huet was the new star in Montreal. Joe Sakic, Marc Savard, Paul Kariya, Mats Sundin and Brandon Shanahan were still among the best scorers in the NHL. Connor Bedard is born.

And Ovi is there, with his gray hair, in the same place, at his red point and still destroying all the guards.