Real recession or preparation for the NHL playoffs: what’s going on with Ovechkin

New Captain Achievements

The name of Alexander Ovechkin does not leave the front pages in the world of hockey. The Washington Capitals captain added Tristan Jerry’s name to the long list of goalkeepers he had upset in the world’s strongest league, by scoring in his game against Pittsburgh (6:3) the day before.

There are currently 158 of them, and according to this indicator, the Russian striker took the fourth place in the history of the NHL.

Here, even officially, The Greatest Wayne Gretzky is behind Ovi, and so far only Jaromir Jagr (178), Patrick Marlo (177) and Mark Messier (164) are ahead.

And the next night, the captain of the “capital” hit the empty doors of “Boston” (4: 2) and repeated the record of Pavel Bure 22 years ago, when he differed in Florida nine times, when his opponents changed the goalkeeper with the sixth fielder.

At the same time, Alexander had only eight targets left to catch Gretzky, who took first place in their history. Canadian has scored 56 goals in his career, Ovechkin currently has 48.

For comparison, the other best Russians in this indicator for their careers – Evgeni Malkin and Ilya Kovalchuk – each close the top 20 with 23 empty nets.

In addition, Alexander the Great has now scored 45 goals this season and surpassed Gordie Howe, who at the age of 40 scored 44 goals. Now for players over 36, only Finn Teemu Selanne has a more productive championship and at the age of 36 he has scored 48 goals in the 2006/07 season.

And Ovechkin, whose team has ten more games to play this season, has every chance to beat the Finn’s success.

In total, the Caps captain has 775 goals in his career, and only 26 goals are left to the same Howe, who took second place in the historical peak of snipers. And then it will be possible to focus on climbing to the top of Gretzky (894 goals).

recession speech

But lately I’ve been hearing that Russian vet isn’t in the best shape, doesn’t look fresh and often gives up at the end of the season.

Such statements do not seem objective, although it is quite clear what they are based on. Ovechkin started this season very strong and initially everyone admired his form and speed and also followed Gretzky’s record.

The factor of exceeding expectations was also important, as many authoritative experts, who expressed their respect for the Russian veteran in the summer, said that he would not be the best sniper in history, and Ovechkin in general would fall behind in performance. Experts agreed that for several years, at best, he could score 35 goals, and then 20 for happiness.

However, instead of aging, Ovechkin scored 2+2 in the first game of the season and 26 (12+14) points in the first 15 games. In addition, the number of assists by the sniper also fueled anger.

But gradually the performance started to decline as expected and also the other guys came forward. In the list of goalscorers, Ovechkin is currently in “only” 15th place, even behind two Russians – Kirill Kaprizov and Artemy Panarin.

And he does not claim the first place among the snipers of the season, and therefore the Maurice Richard Trophy, as Toronto’s Auston Matthews has already scored 58 goals and is ahead of Ovi by 13 hits.

Overall, in a recent ESPN poll of the entire season’s MVP, Alexander the Great was rated by no expert and objectively has no chance of a fourth career Hart Cup.

Real picture

But not everything is measured by Harts alone. There is only one award for the most valuable player of the season. And great hockey players in the NHL who excelled in the championship are a dime a dozen.

And in this company, Ovechkin still ranks among the best, which is confirmed by the statistics given above.

If you look at the statistics, in 13 games since March 11, Washington’s captain failed to score in terms of performance in only two games.

Yes, and in terms of goals it is no longer entirely correct to compare Alexander with the current Matthews. The fact is that in the last three seasons the American has scored at least 30 more goals in equal compositions than any other player in the league! This shows that Matthews is indeed the best striker of the new generation.

But despite being 13 goals behind leaders Toronto, Ovechkin still ranks fourth on the 2021/22 championship scoring list. And there are only five hits before Draisaitl, who is in second place.

In general, rumors about the fall of the G8 are greatly exaggerated. And if the Russian is not running until he is tired on the field at the moment, it is only because the main games – the playoffs – are still ahead.

“Washington” will definitely be there, and the cut-to-death will start there from the first series. And then the captain will be asked for real characteristics. It seems that even at the age of 36 they are quite talented.