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Ann Arbor, MI • United States • 21 Years Old • Male
polakpuckstopper
50 in 50 in Reach? The Spectacle that is Alexander Ovechkin
Posted 6:20 PM ET | Comments 7
I finally had the NHL Network added to my programming a week ago, and obviously I can't turn it off. Something that they were talking about the other day was Mike Bossy's "50 goals in 50 games" accomplishment. I knew that he was the second play to ever achieve this after the great Maurice Richard, but I was wondering how many times it was done after him, so I looked it up.
Turns out that the feat has been performed eight times, by five different players: Richard (1), Gretzky (3), Lemieux (1), and Brett Hull (2). So my question to you guys is this: will we see someone added to this list in the near future, given that scoring in today's NHL is down?
Obviously, in my mind, the number one candidate has to be Ovechkin. Through 58 games, the guy has 48 goals. Two other incredible, albeit unrelated stats: only 11 times this season has AO been held pointless, and only on one occasion has he been held pointless in consecutive games. Absolutely amazing. Is there a better pure talent in the league? Ever since Sid the Kid has gone down, I've begun to think that AO's a better face for the NHL. No one is more passionate...so passionate that, on a team full of AHLers, he has everyone believing that they are playoff material. I don't see these qualities in Sid. Give AO the "C" already...he's earned it much more than Crosby has.
I think AO gets 50 in 50 within the next two years and gives Gretzky's record of 894 goals a <i>serious</i> run for its money. If you think I'm crazy, here are some mind-boggling numbers: he's on pace to finish with 68 goals this season, which would give him 166 goals in his NHL career (only three seasons). That's an average of just over 55 goals per season. If he keeps this pace up, he'll have topped Gretzky's record in just over 13 years from now, <i>at only 35 years of age</i>. Breaking this sacred record is inevitable, especially since the NHL keeps hinting at further rule changes to increase goal scoring. Just think if the Caps ever got his a reliable set-up guy at center. Scary.
Whether or not the Caps make the playoffs this year, AO should be the <i>slam dunk</i> Hart Trophy winner. But everyone should step back and look at the big picture: we are witnessing the greatest pure goal scorer this game has ever seen, plain and simple. Wrap your mind around that.
Consume, and I'd like to hear your guys' thoughts. Who else do you guys think could possibly hit 50 in 50? Rick Nash maybe? Is AO the greatest goal scorer of all time? Most importantly...doesn't Peter Forsberg have bigger issues to deal with than suing a racehorse company? :-)
-Tom
Turns out that the feat has been performed eight times, by five different players: Richard (1), Gretzky (3), Lemieux (1), and Brett Hull (2). So my question to you guys is this: will we see someone added to this list in the near future, given that scoring in today's NHL is down?
Obviously, in my mind, the number one candidate has to be Ovechkin. Through 58 games, the guy has 48 goals. Two other incredible, albeit unrelated stats: only 11 times this season has AO been held pointless, and only on one occasion has he been held pointless in consecutive games. Absolutely amazing. Is there a better pure talent in the league? Ever since Sid the Kid has gone down, I've begun to think that AO's a better face for the NHL. No one is more passionate...so passionate that, on a team full of AHLers, he has everyone believing that they are playoff material. I don't see these qualities in Sid. Give AO the "C" already...he's earned it much more than Crosby has.
I think AO gets 50 in 50 within the next two years and gives Gretzky's record of 894 goals a <i>serious</i> run for its money. If you think I'm crazy, here are some mind-boggling numbers: he's on pace to finish with 68 goals this season, which would give him 166 goals in his NHL career (only three seasons). That's an average of just over 55 goals per season. If he keeps this pace up, he'll have topped Gretzky's record in just over 13 years from now, <i>at only 35 years of age</i>. Breaking this sacred record is inevitable, especially since the NHL keeps hinting at further rule changes to increase goal scoring. Just think if the Caps ever got his a reliable set-up guy at center. Scary.
Whether or not the Caps make the playoffs this year, AO should be the <i>slam dunk</i> Hart Trophy winner. But everyone should step back and look at the big picture: we are witnessing the greatest pure goal scorer this game has ever seen, plain and simple. Wrap your mind around that.
Consume, and I'd like to hear your guys' thoughts. Who else do you guys think could possibly hit 50 in 50? Rick Nash maybe? Is AO the greatest goal scorer of all time? Most importantly...doesn't Peter Forsberg have bigger issues to deal with than suing a racehorse company? :-)
-Tom
I think it's a little premature to call him the greatest goal scorer of all time. I mean it's a great 3 seasons, but it's only 3 seasons. You're talking about him having one of the greatest careers of all time. Let's wait until he gets to near 500 goals at 30 before we annoint him. Rick Nash could maybe do it. I think a good candidate will be a big time winger that plays alongside Crosby if Pittsburgh is able to find one. With how he generates chances for his teammates if they can add someone like Marian Hossa to play with Crosby I'd say he can.
Nice post, Tex. A Crosby-to-Hossa (or some other bona fide trigger man) combination could definitely compete to reach 50-in-50. You bring up a good point about the importance of a good setup guy...I should have factored that in. However, the fact that AO doesn't have such a playmaker on his line just reinforces my point about this guy's ability.Yeah, I suppose that you're right when you say that already calling AO the greatest goal scorer of all time is a little hasty. I just wanted to illustrate the point that people don't really fully appreciate just what this kid is on pace to accomplish. Anyone with a pulse knows that AO is good...I just don't think fans understand how big of an understatement that is. It makes sense though...people tend to automatically consider The Great One's immaculate goal scoring record as untouchable, just because it's Gretzky. No one will ever be better than Wayne, right? If Ovechkin keeps this up, however, the record will be his.Still, I'm not going to back off of my prediction. Find me in 13 years and we'll talk. :-)
In his last 50 games he has had 43 goals. If he can get 11 goals in his next 7 games he'll do the feat in the middle of the season (obviously it doesn't count, but still amazing to think about the possibility.)His next four games pit him against weak defenses (Florida, Tampa, the Islanders and Carolina) before two games against NJ and one against Minny. He could do it.
oh yea, he'll break Gretzky's record no problem...he only needs to average 55 goals per year... FOR THE NEXT 13 YEARS!!!!!! Come on man, waaay to early to be talking about this....OV is an awesome player, but don't forget Gretzky scored 92 goals in ONE season alone!!!!!
First of all, gretzky scored 198 goals in his first three for an average of 66. Did gretz average that out for his whole career, of course not. Later on you get older and younger faster players come into the league that make it harder for you to keep it up, and thats not including the potential of injury. Nobody that watches the nhl would ever not say that ovechkin is phenominal, but don't coronate him better then gretzky after three great years, still way below gretzky's average. And gretzky wasn't even considered a goalscorer, he is considered a playmaker. I think lemieux was the greatest goalscorer, and no way ovechkin is better then him either.
Ever since the beginning ive thought AO was the better of the two but everybody jumped on the crosby bandwagon because of the media hype. But these last few weeks have started to shift those opinions in AO's way, heck seeing the way Malkin has played in Sid's absences has gotten me wondering if Crosby is even the best player on his team, let alone the whole league. If anybody can do 50-50 or break gretz career record its AO
Let's don't get crazy. Ovechkin is a great goal scorer, and Malkin is also a great player in his own right, but Crosby is still the best all around player the game has to offer. I think it's certainly possible that Ovechkin can break the goal record, I just think it's too premature to begin the countdown. Too many players in all sports breakdown or flameout for various reasons that it's possible he won't play deep into his 30's. I also think its crazy to think no one will ever be better than Wayne. Someone always comes along. The same stuff was said about Gordie Howe I'm sure.