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Why Ovechkin HASN’T Been Scoring This Year (And Why He Will Start Soon)



Alex Ovechkin is off to a terrible start to this season, and people are thinking that his decline has arrived. But the numbers show that Ovi isn’t necessarily on the downturn. He’s just gotten unlucky.

18 Comments

  1. I’m glad you’re finally tackling this issue. I myself am guilty of chalking it up to Ovi simply slowing down as a skater and coming into this season with lessened conditioning , which I still think is true but it’s also true that he is the victim of bad bounces this year. Plus it seems like this year the Caps have had a harder time setting up scoring chances for him especially on the power play. Maybe it’s because Strome isn’t as good a passer as Backstrom or Kuznetsov or teams gameplanning around it. Idk. I do think he is starting to look a little better and it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s back to his old self in a month or so. He’s still a cone on defense at this point tho😂

  2. The times I have seen him playing this season, admittedly only a handful of games, he just looks slow. Combined with his team aging around him too is a recipe for a production fall off.

  3. Even if he finishes the season with the projected goal totals of like 16 goals he will only need 56 more to tie Gretzky's record. He would have 2 full seasons until his current contract is up to do that. And if he can't do 56 in 2 years he'll be pretty close presumably. At that point the Caps would sign him for another year when he's aged 41-42, and he would be able to get the goals. On top of that I have to agree that he is going to exceed the current goal pace he has this season, and rise to a good 20ish before the end of this year. Also, even if he never manages to catch Gretzky, he still ought to be regarded as the greatest goal scorer of all time. He will most certainly be very, very close to the record by the end of his career (if not the holder of the record). Adjust for the eras they each played in, and Ovi is the clear cut best goal scorer ever.

  4. As a caps fan, I have watched every single gam and can say that most of his goal scoring problems are coming from the powerplay, The capitals have the worest powerplay in the NHL, he should have 4-5 more goals from that alone, plus he has hit a crazy amount of posts this season, i cant even believe how many. he's been so unlucky to start the season.

  5. I was watching the recent Dallas Capitals game, and I was confused as to why Ovechkin just wasn't sinking them in the net like I'd seen him do year after year. even in the shootout, I though for sure he was gonna bury one to keep it going, and he got stuffed like he didn't even try to score. I'm really confused because thats not the ovechkin I remember watching tally goals and witness winning the cup while I was on vacation in DC.

  6. He probably won't catch Gretz now. I don't think he is giving less effort or is slow or whatever. The facts are when goals do dry up for goal scorers they dry up BIG TIME. It is possible Ovi is at that point now.

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