Mastodon
@Washington Capitals

The Great 800: Alex Ovechkin



Over the past 105 years only two players had scored more than 800 goals: The Great One and Mr. Hockey. Two of the best nicknames and players in the sport’s history, Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe now have a third member of their club, and his nickname is a fitting one: The Great 8…or in this case…The Great 800.

Here is a look at Alexander Ovechkin’s historic achievement through the eyes of the biggest names in the game.

25 Comments

  1. What a beauty. lol but I always get the impression that Austin Mathews has the language skills of a 5 year old. lol. Dude sounds like such a simpleton. Yeah, Ovi's the greatest goal scorer ever. It's not even a close race at this point. He'll get 1000.

  2. Надо отбросить все предрассудки и просто играть от души, как это Саня делал раньше! Удачи!

  3. I never liked you OV. But you're an incredibly gifted athlete who would take a puck in the face for anyone. You deserve all your trophies you bastard. No one can take that away from you anyway. So, if you ever see the puck coming right at you, please take it in the face just for me.

  4. The Sedins deserve the HOF nod that they got and they don't have 650 goals combined.
    This is another level above another level.

  5. Ovid the Russian machine mad respect, think about Connor he will prbly pass Ovi he’s only 25 with 266 goals already

  6. The average league performance after 2005 (when Ovi joined the NHL) is significantly lower than in the 1980s and early 1990s. In the 80s, the performance per match ranged from 7 to 8 goals, and the most “fun” season was the 1981/82 championship – 8.03 goals (it was in that year that Gretzky set an all-time record – 92 goals in the regular season). In the first half of the 90s, the performance in the NHL was slowly declining (with the exception of the 1992/93 championship), and in the 1996/97 season there was a sharp decrease in this indicator – to 5.83 goals per game. In the 2003/04 regular season, the performance dropped to a terrible 5.14 goals.

    This may be due to increased competition in the NHL. After the collapse of the USSR, many hockey players who played in the countries of the Warsaw Pact moved to play in the NHL. The best players on the planet are playing in North America right now. During the Gretzky era, there were almost no Europeans in the NHL. In the 1983/84 season. Only 50 foreigners played in the NHL.

    Ovi came into the league during the "dead puck era," playing against bigger, faster goaltenders who are equipped to look like they're working as fighting dog training dummies. The defenders have also become very large. Gretzky scored half of his goals on some skinny, dangling fools who jumped 5 meters out of the “frame”, trying to cut the corner, and then fell onto the ice.

    In the 1988-1989 season. in the regular season of the NHL, 1 field player from the countries of the former USSR played, after the collapse of the USSR in the 1991-1992 season. 24 field players played in the 1993-1994 season. – 63, and in 2003/04. – 71. As can be seen from the figures, the higher the field players from the countries of the former USSR played, the lower the performance in the NHL. The performance is correlated with the number of players playing in the NHL from the countries of the former USSR.

    From 1975 to 1991, the clubs of the USSR played 108 matches with the teams of the National Hockey League. During this time, the clubs of the USSR won 58 victories, 10 matches ended in a draw and lost 40 times to the representatives of the NHL.

    In 1990/91 USSR clubs won 17 times against NHL clubs, lost 8 times and drew 3 times. This indicates the high competitiveness of Soviet hockey players.

    For example, the results of the teams in which Gretzky played at that time against the teams of the USSR:

    01/04/1980 Edmonton Oilers – Dynamo (Moscow) – 1: 4

    12/27/1985 Edmonton Oilers – CSKA – 3: 6

    12/31/1988 Los Angeles Kings – Dynamo (Riga) – 3:5

    12/04/1989 Los Angeles Kings – Khimik (Voskresensk) – 3:6

    12/03/1990 Los Angeles Kings – Khimik (Voskresensk) – 5: 1

    Also, the symbolic team of the 20th century included 4 players who played in the USSR championships and 2 players who played in the NHL. The six members of the symbolic team were chosen by voting organized by the IIHF. The selection committee included 56 hockey experts from 16 countries in Europe and North America.

    Symbolic team of the century:

    Goalkeeper: Vladislav Tretiak (USSR) – 30 votes.

    Defender: Vyacheslav Fetisov (USSR) – 54 votes.

    Defender: Börje Salming (Sweden) – 17 votes.

    Wing: Valery Kharlamov (USSR) – 21 votes.

    Wing: Sergei Makarov (USSR) – 18 votes.

    Center forward: Wayne Gretzky (Canada) – 38 votes

    Ovechkin played in the NHL with more competition than Gretzky. But you can compare the results of these players, at the time when the Soviet players started playing in the NHL.

    Gretzky played 373 games in the NHL from 1993 to 1998 and scored 120 goals (averaging 0.32 goals per game) at the age of 32-36. Ovechkin, aged 32-36 (from 2017 to 2022), played 353 games in the NHL and scored 222 goals (an average of 0.63 goals per game).

    Gretzky played 721 NHL games and scored 302 goals from 1988 to 1998 (averaging 0.42 goals per game) at the age of 27-36. Ovechkin, aged 27-36 (from 2012 to 2022), played 721 games in the NHL and scored 441 goals (an average of 0.61 goals per game).

    During these periods, Ovechkin won against Gretzky in the number of goals scored.

    In addition, rules contributed to increased performance in the 1980s. Goalkeepers wore narrow shin guards, less sturdy helmets, and play skates, rather than goalie skates, as they are now. Video replays in the league were introduced only in 1991, when Gretzky had already crossed the equator of his career and stopped scoring goals with automatic bursts. In 1993, they changed the rules for playing with a high stick – it was forbidden to lift it above the crossbar, and before that it was allowed to swing up to the shoulder. In 1996, when Gretzky was three years away from retiring from the sport, a trapezoid was introduced – they outlined a section of ice on which the field was forbidden to contact the goalkeepers.

    Ovechkin also won against Gretzky in the number of seasons in which they became the best scorers.

    Number of seasons in which the player became the best scorer:

    1. Alexander Ovechkin – 9 seasons

    2. Bobby Hull – 7 seasons

    3. Phil Esposito – 6 seasons

    4. Wayne Gretzky – 5 seasons

    5. Gordie Howe – 5 seasons

    6. Maurice Richard – 5 seasons

    7. Charlie Conacher – 5 seasons

    8. Pavel Bure – 3 seasons

    9. Teemu Selanne – Season 3

    10. Mario Lemieux – 3 seasons

    11. Brett Hull – 3 seasons

    12. Bill Cook – 3 seasons

    13. Babe Dy – 3 seasons

    Wayne Gretzky never became the best sniper after 1991, that is, when, after the collapse of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact, European players poured into the NHL (the number of Europeans in the NHL became more than 5 times), and the competition in the NHL itself increased! And Gretzky's performance dropped noticeably. Wayne Gretzky himself said in an interview that it’s harder to score now than when he was playing (I quote him: “To score 13 goals now – and this is just my opinion – is much more difficult than to score 15 goals, as I did in '93. ").

  7. Before you was winner for me. But after Ukraine brutal war and your putin support you are loser. Even you make 1000goal. Fix your instagram pictures and give support to Ukraine.

  8. As a kid growing up a season ticket holder with the Capitals, I was privileged enough to watch the majority of Ovechkin's career. I can't tell you how grateful I am to have witnessed this man do incredible things both on and off the ice. Ovi and Crosby both took a game struggling to stay relevant and revitalized an entire sport that would last for decades.

  9. "And here come that hats"… that ESPN team from top to bottom. F!@#ing sucks. I'm not apologizing, I'm not biased and I'm not anyone important so take that salt and lick it. I have ESPN+ and it simply doesn't compare to my NBCSP with Joe and Craig. What more dislike can I express?

  10. ovechkin will have a summer tour this summer visiting the children in hospital on behalf of his friend put-in, (the war criminal) alex, over here, livin’ the good life, can give back by visiting the grave sites of the dead Ukrainian children

  11. This guy publicly supported the annexation of Crimea and to this day maintains support and a strong friendship with the mass murderer Putin. Says he won't take down instagram picture with Putin because of fear for his parents in Russia. He has made over $100 million and can surely move his family to the safety of the USA but refuses to do so. He should be deported prior to breaking Wayne Gretzky's goal record. He is a fraud.

  12. the GOAT. He is the best at the objective of the game. Best Hockey player ever. oh BTW over 600 assists on top of the 800 goals.

  13. Putin's buddy. Sad the NHL supports russians raping and murdering Ukrainian children.

  14. Ovi missed 2 seasons due to the 2 greves of hockey and a Covid hanging Wayne`s record would already be made by Ovi . He has an average of 45 goals a year , or more ???

  15. Alex ovechkin's a great player but they a Alex Ovechkin is coward for not standing up to Putin don't give me this he's got family over and Russia he's a multi-millionaire he could move them to USA

Write A Comment