Ovechkin nears 700 goals

[Jimmy Higgins]

So we are witnessing another player nearing a plateau of greatness in the NHL. The Washington Capitals' Ovechkin is nearing 700 goals. That is an acheivement matched by very very few: Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Jaromir Jagr, Brett Hull, Marcel Dionne, Phil Esposito and Mike Gartner. You might not remember that last guy, but he played at the right time, and generally scored decently his entire career.

You'll notice that most players in the list above are more recent than later. Gordie Howe and Phil Esposito are the only guys that date prior than the 80s. Gretzky, Dionne, and Gartner played when goalkeepers were winning the Vezina Trophy with GAA in the mid 3's!

So this leads to my question. While Gretzky had a greatness for several years that will never be matched, his record stats were a part of the era he also played in. Mind you, Gretzky is putting up great numbers in today's league too (and actually maybe his goal rate isn't too affected as while his scoring was legendary, his assisting was... well, the english and french languages lack a word good enough to describe how unbelievable he was at assisting goals which led to him leading more years than not from the beginning of his career to 92-93.

92-93 would also be a year when the sluice gates appeared to be turned off. Bernie Nichols scored 70 goals once (didn't win scoring title!), while playing for LA... before Gretzky is traded there! Never saw that performance in the 90s. Many players didn't... and it wasn't just Kevin Stevens who benefited tremendously from Mario Lemieux. Goalkeeping gets really good. Roy, Brodeur, Hasek (pretty much three of the best keepers ever), Belfour, Curtis, Essensa (who's career is misleading due to playing for the Jets), Osgood. It was the golden time of keepers and scoring never returned to the 80s goal-a-thon.

So my question is this, is Ovechkin's 700 one of the most impressive? More impressive than Dionne's or Jagr's (who played forever... like Howe)? Ovechkin's goals per game actually beat Gretzky's, and most other players. What is incredible, is that the best scorer of all-time (Richard and Lemieux can fight that out), probably Mario Lemieux (as he did his stuff for not nearly as good Pittsburgh Penguins team), isn't even on the 700 goal list, mainly due to injuries and non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. But again... benefactor of the 80s, like another non 700-clubber, Mike Bossy.

Ovechkin's numbers got here in 15 seasons. Took Jagr more... and he had Lemieux for a number of them.

So maybe:

1. Gretzky
2. Howe
3. Ovechkin
4. Espisito
5. to whatever... everyone else

 

[rousseau]

I researched this question once, and I believe the consensus was that Ovechkin's around on par as a goal scorer, if not a little better. But it does get complicated in that Gretzky spent more time assisting others which likely deflates his goal count, but then the era itself likely wildly inflated his assist count too. But to get as many goals AND assists as he did boosts both records, imo.

I'd rather look at points, but even that can be misleading and not give the complete picture. For instance, Ovechkin has more points than Crosby, but Crosby has led his team to three cups.

I guess Crosby also has a much higher PPG average than Ovechkin, too.

https://www.quanthockey.com/nhl/records/nhl-players-all-time-points-per-game-leaders.html