Washington Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin made NHL historical past on Sunday, scoring the 895th purpose of his 20-year profession and passing the enduring Wayne Gretzky for first place on the all-time listing.
It’s the hockey equal of Barry Bonds passing Hank Aaron along with his 756th house run, or LeBron James passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar along with his 38,388th level — a contemporary legend chasing down one of the revered data in sports activities, held by one of the revered athletes of all time.
Right here’s a little bit historic perspective on Ovechkin’s feat:
When did Gretzky set the file?
Gretzky scored his 802nd purpose on March 23, 1994 towards Vancouver, knocking a Marty McSorley move right into a principally empty web and passing Gordie Howe, “Mr. Hockey,” for first on the all-time listing. Gretzky was in his Fifteenth NHL season, and the purpose got here in his 1,117th regular-season recreation. Howe was extensively thought-about the sport’s biggest participant till Gretzky got here alongside, posting 801 objectives and 1,850 factors in 1,767 video games. The games-played file stood till Patrick Marleau broke it in 2021.
Howe performed in 5 totally different many years (six in the event you rely the one recreation he performed with the Worldwide Hockey League’s Detroit Vipers in 1997 on the age of 69), beginning his profession with the Detroit Purple Wings in 1946 and ending it with the Hartford Whalers in 1979-80. Howe’s mix of ability, energy and sandpaper made him a legend, however even his numbers pale compared to Gretzky’s.
How unreachable did the file appear when Gretzky retired?
At any time when a debate arises about who the best particular person athlete is in crew sports activities — Babe Ruth? Michael Jordan? Tom Brady? — hockey followers virtually all the time go to the identical mind-boggling stat. Gretzky was the NHL’s all-time main purpose scorer, and but in the event you took away each certainly one of his 894 of his objectives, he’d nonetheless have extra factors than some other participant in league historical past. Gretzky had 2,857 factors; Jaromir Jagr is subsequent at 1,921, in 246 extra video games. Gretzky’s dominance is unparalleled.
He has the one 4 200-point seasons in NHL historical past, together with a staggering 215-point marketing campaign in 1985-86. In that season, he posted 163 assists. Solely twice has a participant aside from Gretzky had greater than 163 factors in a season (each occasions it was Mario Lemieux). And whereas Gretzky was the best playmaker the sport has ever seen, he additionally had been its most prolific finisher. He’s first and second on the single-season objectives listing, with 92 in 1981-82 and 87 in 1983-84. He additionally had two 70-goal seasons, 5 60-goal seasons, 9 50-goal seasons and scored a minimum of 40 objectives in every of his first 12 seasons (by no means reaching that mark once more).
Different gamers had been extra environment friendly goal-scorers. New York Islanders winger Mike Bossy scored 573 objectives in simply 10 seasons, averaging 0.76 objectives per recreation, earlier than again issues minimize his profession quick at age 30. Lemieux (0.75 objectives per recreation), present Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews (0.64) and Vancouver Canucks nice Pavel Bure (0.62) are forward of Gretzky and Ovechkin, who every verify in subsequent at 0.6 objectives per recreation. However Gretzky lasted 20 seasons, lastly slowing down with 9 objectives in 70 video games with the New York Rangers in 1998-99. Ovechkin is in his twentieth season, too. He’s performed precisely the identical variety of video games as Gretzky, too: 1,487. Ovechkin is exhibiting no indicators of slowing down, nevertheless, with 42 objectives this season.
How has the league modified within the interim?
Gretzky was at his most dominant throughout the Eighties, when the sport was a lot higher-scoring than it’s immediately. Throughout these 12 40-goal seasons that opened his profession, NHL goalies had a median save proportion of .878. In different phrases, they stopped 87.8 % of the pictures they noticed. In Ovechkin’s profession, goalies have had a median save proportion of roughly .910. The typical recreation within the Eighties featured 1.64 extra objectives than the typical recreation throughout Ovechkin’s profession, which incorporates the so-called “dead-puck period” of the mid-90s to the mid-2000s, when stifling defensive programs such because the neutral-zone lure dominated the day.
That stated, it’s not as if everybody was scoring 90 objectives within the Eighties. When Gretzky set the file along with his now-unfathomable 92-goal season, Bossy was second with 64. Two years later, Gretzky had 87 objectives, and Michel Goulet was subsequent with 56. Gretzky’s period of dominance was extra, nicely, dominant. However Ovechkin’s consistency received out ultimately. Gretzky’s final 4 seasons noticed him rating 23, 25, 23 and 9 objectives. Ovechkin’s final 4 seasons have seen him rating 50, 42, 31 and 42 objectives. As Ovechkin famously stated early in his profession, “Russian machine by no means breaks.”
Is Ovechkin’s file now unbreakable?
Ovechkin passing certainly one of Gretzky’s hallowed marks ought to function a reminder that something is feasible. However it’s a protracted shot. Amongst energetic gamers, Matthews has by far one of the best shot (actually and figuratively; his launch is essentially the most deadly within the league). Even after a down season this 12 months, Matthews is averaging extra objectives per recreation than both Gretzky or Ovechkin did over the course of their full careers. Matthews scored 69 objectives final season, the Fifteenth-highest complete ever and essentially the most in additional than three many years (Alex Mogilny and Teemu Selanne every scored 76 in 1992-93, the final season of the high-scoring period).
After all, when Gretzky had reached 600 video games, he already had scored greater than 500 objectives. Matthews is simply now approaching 400. So if Matthews hopes to get to 900 (or extra) sometime, he’ll must match or surpass Ovechkin’s consistency and sturdiness. It’s rather a lot to ask.
Edmonton’s dynamic duo of Connor McDavid (0.51 objectives per recreation) and Leon Draisaitl (0.51), and Boston’s David Pastrnak (0.52) are the one different gamers with even an outdoor likelihood of chasing down Ovechkin at this level. However all three of them have performed a minimum of 700 video games and none of them has reached 400 objectives but, both. At this price, they’ll need to proceed to play all-world hockey into their 40s to have any hope in any respect.
Ovechkin now stands alone. And it’s fairly a mountain to climb to catch him.
(Picture of Wayne Gretzky: Bruce Bennett / Bruce Bennett Studios by way of Getty Photos Studios / Getty Photos)
