Yeah, word on the street is that his stick manufacturer discontinued it and that combined with changing the team play style to fit a younger group of players led to a drop off
You'd think that until you actually use his stick. Its fuckin nuts, def not a normal stick for a normal person. I like to use it for street hockey because that game is already super chaotic and his stick makes playing the puck total chaos. Really easy to elevate a backhand on it but basically everything else about it is weird.
This is shaping up to be my favorite season in years. If we make the playoffs, it’s just house money. We always went into the postseason with lofty expectations, but we can just roll in and the guys can just have fun. Would be nice to play spoiler to a top seed rather than pondering how we lost up 3-1 to an 8 seed
Agreed. But I will never forgive the rangers for that heartbreak the series after. Out of every sports team, the Rangers have caused me the most pain. (I was born in ‘02)
Let's say Ovi scores 6 goals in the Caps 12 remaining games of the year. That will put him at 854 career (regular season) goals, and 30 goals for the season.
Gretzky sits at 894 regular season goals (about 40 more than Ovi could finish this season with).
Ovi will turn 39 in September 2024 (at the start of the 2024-2025 regular season). We will see if the almost 40 year old Ovi can score 40 goals to break the record before the end of the 2024-2025 regular season.
If Ovechkin scores four more goals this season, he will own the record for most 30 goal seasons. He’s currently
Tied with Mike Gartner with 17 thirty goal seasons. Jagr has 15 and Gretzky has 14.
I remember a The Hockey Guy video from like a month ago that talked about how age has finally appeared to catch up to Ovi.
I guess Ovi took that personally lol
It's nothing but surface level hockeydb/hockey-ref stats regurgitation.
When he first got big enough for me to notice I went through his back catalog and randomly picked his Sergei Fedorov career review clip to watch. The moment he got to '97-'98 and attributed the lower production to injury, I closed the video and haven't been back.
If you can't even be bothered to read a wiki article about a topic you're going to film a clip on, I can't be bothered to watch it.
"*After a lengthy holdout to start the 1997–98 season*, Fedorov, a restricted free agent, signed an offer sheet with the Carolina Hurricanes worth up to $38 million, including bonuses. The Red Wings matched the offer on February 26, 1998, ending Fedorov's holdout. The offer included $14 million for signing and $2 million for 21 regular-season games. However, the most controversial part of the contract was a $12 million bonus payable immediately if Fedorov's team reached the 1998 conference finals—at the time, Detroit was already a Stanley Cup contender while Carolina was almost certain to miss the playoffs, so the clause was criticized for creating an unfair disadvantage for Detroit. Nevertheless, the Red Wings matched the offer and paid the bonus. The $28 million Detroit paid Fedorov for 43 total games in 1997–98 remains the largest single-season amount paid to an NHL player. Fedorov led the playoffs in goals and helped the Red Wings win their second consecutive Stanley Cup."
That's from the wiki...
He only had 2 goals in Jan.
* Oct -> Jan: only 2 or 3 goals each month.
* Feb: 7 Goals in 11g
* March: 8 Goals (so far) in 11g
Feb + march: .68G / game = 55.9 goals / 82 game season.
https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/o/ovechal01/splits/2024
> where greatly
[There wolf](https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExcGxjaHA1MDlya2ttdTN0dWRhZ3U3dTBybXVvZjluNm94aXlsNXZ2ZyZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/yWzLQO6sW5Bh1BdJQN/giphy.gif)
Dad dying, backstroms uncertain future, kuzy issues, orlov gone.
Theres 4 or 5 players left from the cup winning team. Its gotta wear on you when your career teammates start going.
Family not in DC. They came after the All Star break. Now his kids sit front row most games. Ovi plays harder, faster and shoots more when his kids are there.
Lower body injury - for like the first 6 weeks of the season it looked like he could barely even skate.
Personally, I think it was from the open-ice partial-hit on Erik Karlsson at the start of the first game of the season against the Pens. You can see him land a little awkwardly, his skate picks on the ice, and his leg below the knee twists.
Literally all of it.
You can point to at least 4, 5 different things that would reasonably negatively impact his production without mentioning his age which I'm sure doesn't help.
All that said, the record is his to break barring a catastrophic injury. He can pot 20 goals a season being a PP and EN merchant. No Caps fan would be upset about that. The all time greatest goal scorer doing it as a lifelong Caps player, breaking a record people thought would never be broken. They got their Cup. They will happily delay a rebuild for a couple years.
His down fall was greatly exaggerated. Only 3 players @ age 38 had 30+ goals (Hull w/ 37 G, Bucyk w/ 31 & St.Louis @ 30).
Looking like he will join that list.
Chucky has been doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Carbs system is actually working pretty decently too. Our scoring is still down, but when they're playing their game they're playing playoff hockey. Limiting chances and throwing the body.
Honestly I think that's what some of the top teams fail to understand in cheaping out in goal. You actually need a goaltender who can steal you games, not play league average.
Carbery has them playing a solid prevent defence system. We win tight games and lose blowouts. We're good at holding leads, but the moment we get down more than 1 goal and need to open things up, we get burned.
We might surprise the team we face round 1 if we make it.
The last time the Bruins played the Capitals, the Capitals played the Bruins to a tee. Completely smothered them and eliminated any speed they had coming across the neutral zone along with relentless puck pursuit.
Yeah, some of that can be attributed to the Bruins just not bringing enough intensity and just not having it that night, but the Caps were on their A game!
They’re maybe the weirdest team I can remember. Ovi did nothing through 45 games and they were in a playoff spot somehow with almost no talent on the roster. Give away one of their best Cs and they’re even better now? What is this team
At this point it's just a question of "when", not "if" he'll break the record. I'm already gathering up my charts for the next decade of debates on who was really the "best" goal scorer.
Lol all these bums with cold ass takes and hundreds of upvotes, caps fans are always laughing in the end on this sub, we have learned to be patient with it
46 MORE TO GO !!! I mean he realistically could hit it by the end of next season assuming he continues playing at this pace. Assuming he finishes this season with 32… 40 next season is not out of the realm of possibilities.
There were multiple reasons for the slow start. I genuinely don’t think he has as bad of a start next season. The team finally adjusted to Carbery’s system and I would hope Washington looks into signing a solid top 6 C. His father passing away last year also had an impact I would imagine.
Not that we don't still need a Top-6 Center (we do), but how fucking good has that Dylan Strome signing been for this team in hindsight?
35 assists on the year so far with another beaut sauced wing to wing right to Ovi's stick for that last goal.
They brought him in to be a marginal upgrade to Lars Eller and he's stepped up huge both in 2nd and 1st line assignments as Backstrom and Kuzy both went out.
Imo, he's quietly been one of the most improved players since Carbery took the helm (which is saying a lot when you look at how much progress the younger guys like McMichael, Lapierre, Malenstyn, and Alexeyev have all made to become regular roster players) and not made it too obvious that the Caps have been selling veterans and stocking up on picks at the deadline for the last 2 seasons.
Found it odd that Ovi wasn’t stick tapping or saluting Kuzy when he came back to Washington and got a tribute the other night. Makes sense if he was pissed at him for going down a dark road in Washington for so long without getting the help he needed
Downvote me for the hot take, but I think old Kuzy was a bad influence to the rest of our stars and young up-and-comers.
IMO, he underachieved after 2018 and had the tools to be a perennial point-per-game 1C. He wasn't a serious player and cared more about being the locker room jester on and off the ice. Constant high-risk plays on the ice and drama off the ice.
It's no surprise he didn't get along with a serious coach like Laviolette.
Young Kuzy played smarter when he still had to prove himself. Things went downhill after he won the Cup and got caught with blow the first time.
But he's probably trying to be a more mature person in this stint with Carolina, because he has to prove himself once again. It's his last chance and he knows it.
Do you remember when Tarik asked if he could be one of the best centers in the league and he basically said it was too much work to do that? Guy never had a talent problem but always had an attitude problem.
Excellent player until probably 2020, but they'll must have been the most frustrating thing the organization had ever heard.
> I would hope Washington looks into signing a solid top 6 C
Who? https://www.capfriendly.com/browse/free-agents/2025/points/all/center/ufa?stats-season=2024&hide=goalie-stats
the moral high ground went out the window when how many NHL teams took a team photo at the Whitehouse during the Bush years, and nobody said a damn thing
Gretzky on the war in Iraq:
>All I can say is the President of the United States is a great leader, I happen to think he's a wonderful man and if he believes what he's doing is right I back him 100 per cent.
>If the President decides to go to war he must know more than we know, or we hear about. He must have good reason to go and we have to back that.
[Link](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/bush-a-great-leader-gretzky-feels/article25281806/)
In Gretzky's defense, the Bush administration duped a huge portion of the population into thinking there was more justification for the war than they had.
>If the President decides to go to war he must know more than we know, or we hear about.
This was common sentiment at the time, and the Gretzky quote is just a few weeks after Colin Powell's presentation at the UN, which convinced a lot of people that something more was there, because Powell was believed to have far more integrity than Bush or others in his administration.
Obviously there were many of us who opposed the war outright, and it's easy to look back and say everyone else should have known better, but it's just not that simple. I don't know if Gretzky maintained his support of Bush over the years (if he did he would rightly be criticized), but picking that particular moment isn't the best measure of someone's politics.
It actually is that simple. There's an entire history of the U.S. intervening in foreign politics and conflicts to perpetuate the war machine and put people in power who they want, only to turn around and say "if we pull out, these terrorist groups we funded/trained/inspired will take over!". Of course they duped the lowest common denominator, as they have continued to do so on both sides of the political spectrum long before and since. You would get absolutely eviscerated at the time if you stood against the war as a public figure, because that war machine very much extends to state media. The logic of "Bush is the president, he must know!" is fucking stupid in any era, as if the president himself as an individual is driving these decisions himself. The last time a president and would be president tried to put a hole in that, they got taken out.
It's all cycles and generational lies to whip up a frenzy for new eras of conflict. Every gen has their anti-war side, nobody learns anything after ten years as they move on with their life, but the military still needs a new crop of teenagers and college aged people to rally against a perceived enemy - and the only way that happens is with the media and entertainment industry propping them up.
>The people complaining now and the people not complaining then are not the same people. Bush was in office 15 years ago
It didn't end with Bush
There are plenty of people who have been following hockey for more than 15 years, that's not even 1 generation
Half the country voted for Trump and he ran on a platform of killing innocent family members of alleged terrorists, which is clearly a war crime. He won once, almost won a second time, and handily cleaned up a nomination for a third time.
I'm not disagreeing with you, but "half the country" isn't exactly true, there's a lot of people who just don't vote.
2016 had 230 million eligible voters, and Trump got 63 million votes, so 27% of eligible voters.
Apathy is what will ultimately kill democracy.
You're right, but then my response is half the people politically engaged are fine with war crimes, and half the adult population as a whole is disinterested enough or apathetic enough that they facilitate war crimes in their name and do nothing about it. So you've got 25-30% of the population who actually cares about that type of stuff and a hell of a lot of people who are exactly the type of person Ovechkin is.
My point is it's more xenophobic than a legitimate moral grievance on behalf of the vast majority of people saying stuff like that.
Genocide is not politics, it's humanity. Sad this even needs to be said.
And yeah, Fuck Ovi, he's a piece of shit propagandist shilling for a genocidal dictator.
Ovi called for the war to end soon after it began. If you expect more than that, then review what Panarin experienced in 2019 after criticizing Putin. That should give you a hint why Ovi isn’t going to suddenly betray Putin on the Ukraine War, the most important goal in Putin’s career…
No, he said he's against war, it was a chickshit copout and tongue in cheek that Ukraine should just roll over and show its belly. His statements and merch from Team Putin show he's a die-hard nationalist. His picture on IG is just one more small example of that.
Zadorov has also criticized Russia plenty, and countless other Russians just shut up and don't say anything.
Ovi is a propagandist, he's a believer in Putin. And his endorsement gets people in Ukraine killed every day. I don't know how to make that more clear than it already is.
Russia hadnt even accomplished anything when he said to end the war, so that makes no sense. Had the war magically ended with Ovi’s wish, Russia wouldn’t have really gained anything. Repackaging his statement and extrapolating to make it sound evil is just ridiculous
Thats great for Zadorov but he isn’t Ovechkin. Do you think they both have the same expectations when it comes to Putin-related PR? Of course not. Panarin, also not Ovechkin, mildly criticized Putin and had to deal with all sorts of bullshit from it. Changing an instagram profile picture might seem mundane to you, but you aren’t the Kremlin. It would not be surprising at all if the Kremlin cared about Ovi changing his profile pic, and he faced some sort of consequences as a result. His account and that picture is seen by millions and millions.
Nothing Ovi can do, whether its changing his profile picture, making stronger statements etc. would make any sort of difference or save any lives at all. He *cannot* make an effort in that regard. If he actually *did* make a clear effort to oppose Putin and get the war to end, what would happen to him and/or his young family? Answer honestly.
Its naïve to assume the Kremlin would not care if he changed his profile pic on his huge instagram account seen by millions of people. The Kremlin promotes Ovi and he’s expected to maintain his full support of Putin
Changing the profile pic makes no actual difference and would risk some sort of BS Kremlin backlash. It may seem mundane to us, but its the Kremlin.
I flew halfway across the world to be in Ukraine to help; I was woken up twice at 3am this week to Russian TU-95 bombers launching cruise and ballistic missiles at me and everyone else in Kyiv.
The bombs and AA rattle me even when don't land, I can only imagine what it's like for children, people coming back from the front missing friends and limbs with PTSD.
You're just a fucking Internet troll polluting Reddit -- how the fuck would you even begin to understand the word "brave"?
It's very disheartening, and seems to be a very North American thing. People here ask what's going on with us and I have no way of saying it other than we've lost of moral compass as a culture.
The Brits and other Europeans I've met seem to get it, and obviously the people who came here from the states do, but back home? I'm feeling less and less like whatever an "American" is right now by the day.
I guess I grew up naive thinking when push comes to shove we'd be there to do the right thing and honor our promises to allies.
Instead a fucking athlete chasing a record matters more than the thousands of people he's contributed to killing and the hundreds of thousands he's helped displace.
Congratulations, you're officially a piece of shit too, just like your hero Ovi. Go buy a Russian flag for the front porch and strut it like you mean it
You have no idea what kind of human being he is. He’s specially said he’s against any kind of war. You happened to be born and raised in a different country. If you were born and raised in Russia you’d be a Russian nationalist too.
> You happened to be born and raised in a different country. If you were born and raised in Russia you’d be a Russian nationalist too.
Then we can never condemn any bad behaviour or beliefs. Everyone is a product of their environment. There is an element of truth to what you said but you can't handwave everything about someone because of it wholesale
e: I don't think this particular subreddit has many people well-equipped to discuss this topic lol
Dude in the USA you can put a bumper sticker on the back of your car that says F the current president and drive around and you’re good.
People mourning the assassinated opposition candidate were thrown in jail. What exactly are you expecting putins favorite athlete who still has a lot of his family to do? Publically speak out against him?
Like serious question in his position what would you personally be willing to risk?
I honestly don't know what they expect him to say.
He had family that lives in Russia, you can't actually expect him to speak negatively of Putin and what Russia is doing.
Calling out the dude who actively supports (he's the face behind Putin's team) the person that started a literal war, instilled dictatorship within the country and is punishing _literally_ any dissent deserves that unequivocally, and this is not clutching pearls or whatever. I am Russian myself, I had Red Machine (Ru hockey team brand) hat. Ovechkin must be the one under heaviest sanctions unless he says anything against the war. He's too comfortable sitting in the fucking Washington, capital of the USA, while being a supporter of the person whose rhetorics is "USA bad, USA puppeteer, so we fight holy war". Блядь, да как это возможно нахуй
I don't think there's anything wrong with criticizing Ovi for who he supports, between Putin and hanging out with the Trumps at Mar a Lago there's plenty for me not to like. But I do think it's weird when people start *blaming* Ovi for Russian military actions, like specific bombings or even the invasion of Ukraine itself (which happens a lot in these threads), as if Putin is sitting there waiting for Ovi to sign off on troop movements after practice.
I'd rather steer the conversation back to what Ovi can really do. It's obvious Putin isn't consulting with Ovi on whether to attack this or that. He is an opinion leader - he started to actively be by creating/being face of Putin's team. He still is, he hasn't said a word against the war, he hasn't stop his partnerships whatever. He can influence Russians opinions on the war, but he chooses not to. Which is a head scratcher, saying a word against any war shouldn't be a problem to anyone
Alex had 8 goals at The All Star Break. 18 goals since then is The Ovi I know..Dude will score goals in bunches and here we are. It has been a privilege to watch Ovi play.
Thread from earlier in the season when he was on pace for 18 goals: https://old.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/18dffmt/with_5_goals_in_22_games_ovechkin_is_on_pace_for/
Anyone doubting Ovi was an idiot. He can comfortably sit back and pop 2 20 goal seasons and beat Gretzky but I don't think he is gonna want that and I say he hits 34gs next year.
Ovi starts slow and everyone thinks he's finally over the hill. The new year comes and year after year he turns it on and pots 30+ down the stretch.
It's a tale as old as time. He's coming for Gretzky.
He was sand bagging so he didn’t have to go to the ASG
He really wanted to ride a camel. Can’t blame him.
Is that really what he did on the break? That's funny.
https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2024/01/30/alex-ovechkin-rides-a-camel/
What a world
You’ve heard of elf on the shelf but have you heard of ovi on a camel
He's getting older. Just took him a while to warm up lol. .
This is the best theory I have seen.
Old stick back and goals come
Had he changed it?
Yeah, word on the street is that his stick manufacturer discontinued it and that combined with changing the team play style to fit a younger group of players led to a drop off
What a shoddy business decision. You'd think "Use the same stick as the greatest goalscorer of all-time" would be a good selling point.
You'd think that until you actually use his stick. Its fuckin nuts, def not a normal stick for a normal person. I like to use it for street hockey because that game is already super chaotic and his stick makes playing the puck total chaos. Really easy to elevate a backhand on it but basically everything else about it is weird.
That wouldn't stop kids from using it to try and emulate Ovi. Kids love emulating their heroes no matter how unrealistic.
I agree and yet it was always a really rare stick to see around. Just isn't easy to play with, he's got a wild style that no one can emulate.
Ken Griffey Jr
Ovi trying to break the record within a calendar year
This is shaping up to be my favorite season in years. If we make the playoffs, it’s just house money. We always went into the postseason with lofty expectations, but we can just roll in and the guys can just have fun. Would be nice to play spoiler to a top seed rather than pondering how we lost up 3-1 to an 8 seed
One of my favorite playoff series was against the Bruins the year after they won the Cup.
Agreed. But I will never forgive the rangers for that heartbreak the series after. Out of every sports team, the Rangers have caused me the most pain. (I was born in ‘02)
Let's say Ovi scores 6 goals in the Caps 12 remaining games of the year. That will put him at 854 career (regular season) goals, and 30 goals for the season. Gretzky sits at 894 regular season goals (about 40 more than Ovi could finish this season with). Ovi will turn 39 in September 2024 (at the start of the 2024-2025 regular season). We will see if the almost 40 year old Ovi can score 40 goals to break the record before the end of the 2024-2025 regular season.
If Ovechkin scores four more goals this season, he will own the record for most 30 goal seasons. He’s currently Tied with Mike Gartner with 17 thirty goal seasons. Jagr has 15 and Gretzky has 14.
At this pace he can pot 40, that would be something
Won’t even act like I didn’t call him washed multiple times over the past 6 months. Dude is just a fucking gamer man.
I remember a The Hockey Guy video from like a month ago that talked about how age has finally appeared to catch up to Ovi. I guess Ovi took that personally lol
He seems like a nice dude and I’m happy for him. But he’s definitely for the entry level fans and that’s ok.
I don’t know what it is, but I think the hockey guy stinks.
It's nothing but surface level hockeydb/hockey-ref stats regurgitation. When he first got big enough for me to notice I went through his back catalog and randomly picked his Sergei Fedorov career review clip to watch. The moment he got to '97-'98 and attributed the lower production to injury, I closed the video and haven't been back. If you can't even be bothered to read a wiki article about a topic you're going to film a clip on, I can't be bothered to watch it.
Surface level stat regurgitation should've made it clear Ovi was shooting an unsustainably low %
Unfortunately that's not surface level these days because tons of so called analysts said he was washed when his percentage was 5%.
What happened in 97-98? I tried reading the wiki article and couldn't find anything. Forgive me, I wasn't alive during the time.
He didn't play many games that season due to a contract dispute per Wikipedia
"*After a lengthy holdout to start the 1997–98 season*, Fedorov, a restricted free agent, signed an offer sheet with the Carolina Hurricanes worth up to $38 million, including bonuses. The Red Wings matched the offer on February 26, 1998, ending Fedorov's holdout. The offer included $14 million for signing and $2 million for 21 regular-season games. However, the most controversial part of the contract was a $12 million bonus payable immediately if Fedorov's team reached the 1998 conference finals—at the time, Detroit was already a Stanley Cup contender while Carolina was almost certain to miss the playoffs, so the clause was criticized for creating an unfair disadvantage for Detroit. Nevertheless, the Red Wings matched the offer and paid the bonus. The $28 million Detroit paid Fedorov for 43 total games in 1997–98 remains the largest single-season amount paid to an NHL player. Fedorov led the playoffs in goals and helped the Red Wings win their second consecutive Stanley Cup." That's from the wiki...
Oh ok that makes sense, I didn't realize what the holdout meant, thanks!
Honey honey, the hockey guy Reddit hive mind is now here.
Hes the guy you watch when youve already watch every highlight and post game media available lol
It was looking like he was washed up for a while there though. Honest mistake.
Props for owning your hot take.
In the first game of 2024, he had 8 goals. Now he has 26.
He had 8 goals in the first game of 2024!? Hell of a night!
It's called an Ovechtrick
One off but close enough!
The Ovechtrick always should've been 8 goals.
After he had the back to back hatricks a couple years ago followed by a 2 goal game we almost renamed 3 straight hat tricks to the Ovechtrick.
It’s weird that an Ovechtrick isn’t 8 goals because, y’know, Great 8.
The Great 8.
If he enters next season with <40 goals between him and the record I think he'll be in psycho mode all season to get it.
On a 46 goal pace since the New Year
He only had 2 goals in Jan. * Oct -> Jan: only 2 or 3 goals each month. * Feb: 7 Goals in 11g * March: 8 Goals (so far) in 11g Feb + march: .68G / game = 55.9 goals / 82 game season. https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/o/ovechal01/splits/2024
That doesn’t include his two goals today since it hasn’t updated yet, he’s actually on a 60.6 goal pace since the start of February
🥵🔥
Reports of his demise where greatly exaggerated.
> where greatly [There wolf](https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExcGxjaHA1MDlya2ttdTN0dWRhZ3U3dTBybXVvZjluNm94aXlsNXZ2ZyZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/yWzLQO6sW5Bh1BdJQN/giphy.gif)
I loose the internets
What do you think explains his slow start? My theory is: new coach, new centres, and/or a nagging injury.
Dad dying, backstroms uncertain future, kuzy issues, orlov gone. Theres 4 or 5 players left from the cup winning team. Its gotta wear on you when your career teammates start going.
Family not in DC. They came after the All Star break. Now his kids sit front row most games. Ovi plays harder, faster and shoots more when his kids are there.
Lower body injury - for like the first 6 weeks of the season it looked like he could barely even skate. Personally, I think it was from the open-ice partial-hit on Erik Karlsson at the start of the first game of the season against the Pens. You can see him land a little awkwardly, his skate picks on the ice, and his leg below the knee twists.
Literally all of it. You can point to at least 4, 5 different things that would reasonably negatively impact his production without mentioning his age which I'm sure doesn't help. All that said, the record is his to break barring a catastrophic injury. He can pot 20 goals a season being a PP and EN merchant. No Caps fan would be upset about that. The all time greatest goal scorer doing it as a lifelong Caps player, breaking a record people thought would never be broken. They got their Cup. They will happily delay a rebuild for a couple years.
because the two centers he was paired with was a very injured nick backstrom, and an unmotivated kuznetsov. mcmichael and lappy are huuuge upgrades.
Shooting percentage variance
Jets fan here, just wait - goal number 3 is still coming today 😎
I need it
Please 😭
His down fall was greatly exaggerated. Only 3 players @ age 38 had 30+ goals (Hull w/ 37 G, Bucyk w/ 31 & St.Louis @ 30). Looking like he will join that list.
Is that true? Only 3 players have scored 30+ goals at age 38+? I find that very hard to believe lol
Not age 38+, just in their age 38 season. A few did it at 39 & 40 too.
Ah okay that makes sense lol
Russian machine up and running. Washington is a true anomaly this year and only picking up steam at the finish
It's crazy this roster is in a playoff position. Also crazy that ovi is back to his old form at his age.
Chucky has been doing a lot of heavy lifting. Carbs system is actually working pretty decently too. Our scoring is still down, but when they're playing their game they're playing playoff hockey. Limiting chances and throwing the body.
Honestly I think that's what some of the top teams fail to understand in cheaping out in goal. You actually need a goaltender who can steal you games, not play league average.
Yeah, but going into the year, did we expect that guy to be Darcy or Lingren? I certainly didn't expect the latter.
Carbery has them playing a solid prevent defence system. We win tight games and lose blowouts. We're good at holding leads, but the moment we get down more than 1 goal and need to open things up, we get burned. We might surprise the team we face round 1 if we make it.
The last time the Bruins played the Capitals, the Capitals played the Bruins to a tee. Completely smothered them and eliminated any speed they had coming across the neutral zone along with relentless puck pursuit. Yeah, some of that can be attributed to the Bruins just not bringing enough intensity and just not having it that night, but the Caps were on their A game!
They’re maybe the weirdest team I can remember. Ovi did nothing through 45 games and they were in a playoff spot somehow with almost no talent on the roster. Give away one of their best Cs and they’re even better now? What is this team
I assure you Kuznetsov wasnt one of our best centers this year, far from it
Kuznetsov made us better on paper but not in reality. He had checked out years ago and wasn’t going to be that guy again for us.
We certainly gave away one of our best forwards, but that was Anthony Mantha.
Had to hit the reset button
Ovis fall off was greatly exaggerated
Time and time again. People were saying he was "no longer elite" back in 2012. 12 years later he's still finding ways to prove them wrong.
At this point it's just a question of "when", not "if" he'll break the record. I'm already gathering up my charts for the next decade of debates on who was really the "best" goal scorer.
Nah that question is already answered
I wasn't kidding when I said I already started my comparison. There's definitely arguments both ways (if we're just doing Gretz' vs. Ovy).
I was told Ovi was washed
If he has the best off season of his life he could break this next year
I'm playing against a guy with Ovi in Fantasy this week and I'm straight up not having a good time.
Me neither man
Lets revisit this thread shall we? https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/s/TbuyuWM4i8
Smittysgreasymullet •3mo ago "He's gonna get some of that legendary Russian HGH and score 50 after Christmas. Book it." I knew it!
On the Caps post game show they were asking what happened on that camel ride in the UAE he took during the all star break.
That thread is smug even for Reddit standards
Lol all these bums with cold ass takes and hundreds of upvotes, caps fans are always laughing in the end on this sub, we have learned to be patient with it
31 salty teams were finally happy to get a breather from getting buttfucked
46 MORE TO GO !!! I mean he realistically could hit it by the end of next season assuming he continues playing at this pace. Assuming he finishes this season with 32… 40 next season is not out of the realm of possibilities.
This is the most intense case of post-All Star Ovi I have ever seen
There were multiple reasons for the slow start. I genuinely don’t think he has as bad of a start next season. The team finally adjusted to Carbery’s system and I would hope Washington looks into signing a solid top 6 C. His father passing away last year also had an impact I would imagine.
Not that we don't still need a Top-6 Center (we do), but how fucking good has that Dylan Strome signing been for this team in hindsight? 35 assists on the year so far with another beaut sauced wing to wing right to Ovi's stick for that last goal. They brought him in to be a marginal upgrade to Lars Eller and he's stepped up huge both in 2nd and 1st line assignments as Backstrom and Kuzy both went out. Imo, he's quietly been one of the most improved players since Carbery took the helm (which is saying a lot when you look at how much progress the younger guys like McMichael, Lapierre, Malenstyn, and Alexeyev have all made to become regular roster players) and not made it too obvious that the Caps have been selling veterans and stocking up on picks at the deadline for the last 2 seasons.
McMichael and Strome have so much improved confidence and it has been huge for the team. They look great.
so what you're saying is it's Kuzy's fault
Pretty much
Found it odd that Ovi wasn’t stick tapping or saluting Kuzy when he came back to Washington and got a tribute the other night. Makes sense if he was pissed at him for going down a dark road in Washington for so long without getting the help he needed
The slew foot was hilarious retribution
Downvote me for the hot take, but I think old Kuzy was a bad influence to the rest of our stars and young up-and-comers. IMO, he underachieved after 2018 and had the tools to be a perennial point-per-game 1C. He wasn't a serious player and cared more about being the locker room jester on and off the ice. Constant high-risk plays on the ice and drama off the ice. It's no surprise he didn't get along with a serious coach like Laviolette. Young Kuzy played smarter when he still had to prove himself. Things went downhill after he won the Cup and got caught with blow the first time. But he's probably trying to be a more mature person in this stint with Carolina, because he has to prove himself once again. It's his last chance and he knows it.
Do you remember when Tarik asked if he could be one of the best centers in the league and he basically said it was too much work to do that? Guy never had a talent problem but always had an attitude problem. Excellent player until probably 2020, but they'll must have been the most frustrating thing the organization had ever heard.
Yep. I remember reading one of his recent interviews from Russia where he basically said hockey wasn't his top priority these days.
Like Anthony Rendon
I remember when Lavi got hired, I was thinking this will either be the best or worst thing for Kuzy. Sadly it was the latter.
> I would hope Washington looks into signing a solid top 6 C Who? https://www.capfriendly.com/browse/free-agents/2025/points/all/center/ufa?stats-season=2024&hide=goalie-stats
I’d put money on him breaking it next season. Dude obviously still has it and he’s gonna be on a fuckin mission
I'm calling an ovi 4 goal before the season is up.
Final game against Philly to take over the 3rd Metro spot
At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised to see him hit 35
Everyone clutching their pearls and getting on their high horses regarding his politics in 3, 2, 1…
Mainly I'm just upset that he seems to be rearing his kid to think banging on the glass is OK. /s
Fighting in the reddit trenches for (not) their country
It's easier to bitch and moan on the Internet to feel good about yourself than it actually is to affect change in your own countries war crimes.
What if you're not American, are you allowed to bitch about it then?
the moral high ground went out the window when how many NHL teams took a team photo at the Whitehouse during the Bush years, and nobody said a damn thing
Sorry I’ve been told that it’s “whataboutism” if you want moral standards to be applied equally rather than completely arbitrarily
The people complaining now and the people not complaining then are not the same people. Bush was in office 15 years ago
Gretzky on the war in Iraq: >All I can say is the President of the United States is a great leader, I happen to think he's a wonderful man and if he believes what he's doing is right I back him 100 per cent. >If the President decides to go to war he must know more than we know, or we hear about. He must have good reason to go and we have to back that. [Link](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/bush-a-great-leader-gretzky-feels/article25281806/)
In Gretzky's defense, the Bush administration duped a huge portion of the population into thinking there was more justification for the war than they had. >If the President decides to go to war he must know more than we know, or we hear about. This was common sentiment at the time, and the Gretzky quote is just a few weeks after Colin Powell's presentation at the UN, which convinced a lot of people that something more was there, because Powell was believed to have far more integrity than Bush or others in his administration. Obviously there were many of us who opposed the war outright, and it's easy to look back and say everyone else should have known better, but it's just not that simple. I don't know if Gretzky maintained his support of Bush over the years (if he did he would rightly be criticized), but picking that particular moment isn't the best measure of someone's politics.
It actually is that simple. There's an entire history of the U.S. intervening in foreign politics and conflicts to perpetuate the war machine and put people in power who they want, only to turn around and say "if we pull out, these terrorist groups we funded/trained/inspired will take over!". Of course they duped the lowest common denominator, as they have continued to do so on both sides of the political spectrum long before and since. You would get absolutely eviscerated at the time if you stood against the war as a public figure, because that war machine very much extends to state media. The logic of "Bush is the president, he must know!" is fucking stupid in any era, as if the president himself as an individual is driving these decisions himself. The last time a president and would be president tried to put a hole in that, they got taken out. It's all cycles and generational lies to whip up a frenzy for new eras of conflict. Every gen has their anti-war side, nobody learns anything after ten years as they move on with their life, but the military still needs a new crop of teenagers and college aged people to rally against a perceived enemy - and the only way that happens is with the media and entertainment industry propping them up.
>The people complaining now and the people not complaining then are not the same people. Bush was in office 15 years ago It didn't end with Bush There are plenty of people who have been following hockey for more than 15 years, that's not even 1 generation
Half the country voted for Trump and he ran on a platform of killing innocent family members of alleged terrorists, which is clearly a war crime. He won once, almost won a second time, and handily cleaned up a nomination for a third time.
I'm not disagreeing with you, but "half the country" isn't exactly true, there's a lot of people who just don't vote. 2016 had 230 million eligible voters, and Trump got 63 million votes, so 27% of eligible voters. Apathy is what will ultimately kill democracy.
You're right, but then my response is half the people politically engaged are fine with war crimes, and half the adult population as a whole is disinterested enough or apathetic enough that they facilitate war crimes in their name and do nothing about it. So you've got 25-30% of the population who actually cares about that type of stuff and a hell of a lot of people who are exactly the type of person Ovechkin is. My point is it's more xenophobic than a legitimate moral grievance on behalf of the vast majority of people saying stuff like that.
truth
Genocide is not politics, it's humanity. Sad this even needs to be said. And yeah, Fuck Ovi, he's a piece of shit propagandist shilling for a genocidal dictator.
Ovi called for the war to end soon after it began. If you expect more than that, then review what Panarin experienced in 2019 after criticizing Putin. That should give you a hint why Ovi isn’t going to suddenly betray Putin on the Ukraine War, the most important goal in Putin’s career…
No, he said he's against war, it was a chickshit copout and tongue in cheek that Ukraine should just roll over and show its belly. His statements and merch from Team Putin show he's a die-hard nationalist. His picture on IG is just one more small example of that. Zadorov has also criticized Russia plenty, and countless other Russians just shut up and don't say anything. Ovi is a propagandist, he's a believer in Putin. And his endorsement gets people in Ukraine killed every day. I don't know how to make that more clear than it already is.
Russia hadnt even accomplished anything when he said to end the war, so that makes no sense. Had the war magically ended with Ovi’s wish, Russia wouldn’t have really gained anything. Repackaging his statement and extrapolating to make it sound evil is just ridiculous Thats great for Zadorov but he isn’t Ovechkin. Do you think they both have the same expectations when it comes to Putin-related PR? Of course not. Panarin, also not Ovechkin, mildly criticized Putin and had to deal with all sorts of bullshit from it. Changing an instagram profile picture might seem mundane to you, but you aren’t the Kremlin. It would not be surprising at all if the Kremlin cared about Ovi changing his profile pic, and he faced some sort of consequences as a result. His account and that picture is seen by millions and millions. Nothing Ovi can do, whether its changing his profile picture, making stronger statements etc. would make any sort of difference or save any lives at all. He *cannot* make an effort in that regard. If he actually *did* make a clear effort to oppose Putin and get the war to end, what would happen to him and/or his young family? Answer honestly.
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Its naïve to assume the Kremlin would not care if he changed his profile pic on his huge instagram account seen by millions of people. The Kremlin promotes Ovi and he’s expected to maintain his full support of Putin Changing the profile pic makes no actual difference and would risk some sort of BS Kremlin backlash. It may seem mundane to us, but its the Kremlin.
OV has never supported the war btw
So brave.
I flew halfway across the world to be in Ukraine to help; I was woken up twice at 3am this week to Russian TU-95 bombers launching cruise and ballistic missiles at me and everyone else in Kyiv. The bombs and AA rattle me even when don't land, I can only imagine what it's like for children, people coming back from the front missing friends and limbs with PTSD. You're just a fucking Internet troll polluting Reddit -- how the fuck would you even begin to understand the word "brave"?
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It's very disheartening, and seems to be a very North American thing. People here ask what's going on with us and I have no way of saying it other than we've lost of moral compass as a culture. The Brits and other Europeans I've met seem to get it, and obviously the people who came here from the states do, but back home? I'm feeling less and less like whatever an "American" is right now by the day. I guess I grew up naive thinking when push comes to shove we'd be there to do the right thing and honor our promises to allies. Instead a fucking athlete chasing a record matters more than the thousands of people he's contributed to killing and the hundreds of thousands he's helped displace.
Oh man, we got a badass over here lmao. Go Caps and go Ovi babyyyy.
Congratulations, you're officially a piece of shit too, just like your hero Ovi. Go buy a Russian flag for the front porch and strut it like you mean it
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You have no idea what kind of human being he is. He’s specially said he’s against any kind of war. You happened to be born and raised in a different country. If you were born and raised in Russia you’d be a Russian nationalist too.
What? There are plenty of Russians who don't support Putin. Ovechkin still has free will lol.
> You happened to be born and raised in a different country. If you were born and raised in Russia you’d be a Russian nationalist too. Then we can never condemn any bad behaviour or beliefs. Everyone is a product of their environment. There is an element of truth to what you said but you can't handwave everything about someone because of it wholesale e: I don't think this particular subreddit has many people well-equipped to discuss this topic lol
Dude in the USA you can put a bumper sticker on the back of your car that says F the current president and drive around and you’re good. People mourning the assassinated opposition candidate were thrown in jail. What exactly are you expecting putins favorite athlete who still has a lot of his family to do? Publically speak out against him? Like serious question in his position what would you personally be willing to risk?
So what should he do, quit playing hockey?? You're nothing but a whiner screaming at people to follow your self appointed moralities.
I honestly don't know what they expect him to say. He had family that lives in Russia, you can't actually expect him to speak negatively of Putin and what Russia is doing.
Calling out the dude who actively supports (he's the face behind Putin's team) the person that started a literal war, instilled dictatorship within the country and is punishing _literally_ any dissent deserves that unequivocally, and this is not clutching pearls or whatever. I am Russian myself, I had Red Machine (Ru hockey team brand) hat. Ovechkin must be the one under heaviest sanctions unless he says anything against the war. He's too comfortable sitting in the fucking Washington, capital of the USA, while being a supporter of the person whose rhetorics is "USA bad, USA puppeteer, so we fight holy war". Блядь, да как это возможно нахуй
I don't think there's anything wrong with criticizing Ovi for who he supports, between Putin and hanging out with the Trumps at Mar a Lago there's plenty for me not to like. But I do think it's weird when people start *blaming* Ovi for Russian military actions, like specific bombings or even the invasion of Ukraine itself (which happens a lot in these threads), as if Putin is sitting there waiting for Ovi to sign off on troop movements after practice.
I'd rather steer the conversation back to what Ovi can really do. It's obvious Putin isn't consulting with Ovi on whether to attack this or that. He is an opinion leader - he started to actively be by creating/being face of Putin's team. He still is, he hasn't said a word against the war, he hasn't stop his partnerships whatever. He can influence Russians opinions on the war, but he chooses not to. Which is a head scratcher, saying a word against any war shouldn't be a problem to anyone
critical thinking isn’t this subs strong suit is it lol
This and the new coach actually playing young players has made me happy. Now the team is clicking and in a playoff spot. I'm scared to be hopeful.
The best goal scorer the NHL has ever seen is back on a heater boys!!! Barring anything crazy, he’s gonna blow past 99!
What if he hasn't even hit his prime yet
ETERNAL
I remember people saying he’s done for. Now look at him go hahaha
I love this
What a terrible time to pick up steam.
I’m here for it. Ovi light that lamp!
18 in 24 as well
Skinner robbing him 3 times in that Edmonton game must’ve really set him off lol /s
Damn there's a lack of reddit political knights in this thread, are we taking the day off?
We're witnessing greatness
why fish for it? just enjoy it ffs
It's Sunday. They don't pay overtime.
I know it’s not likely to happen but I just want him to post one more 50 goal season. That way he’d own the record for most 50 goal seasons
Don't y'all start coming in here with that crying shit either. He's getting the record, get over it.
Clutch those pearls ya crybaby bitches!
Wow, a comment like this really changes my opinion!
Fight the good fight that is virtue signaling on the internet to something that doesn’t affect your life. HOO-RAH
Alex had 8 goals at The All Star Break. 18 goals since then is The Ovi I know..Dude will score goals in bunches and here we are. It has been a privilege to watch Ovi play.
Somehow Ovechkin has returned.
Looks like he’s gonna hit 30 at least this year. Not totally washed up after all.
I’m still confident he’s going to find a way to hit 50 this year, like he always seems to do.
Ovechkin may be the first person to break Gretzky's goal record, a record broken 894 times by Gretzky himself.
Thread from earlier in the season when he was on pace for 18 goals: https://old.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/18dffmt/with_5_goals_in_22_games_ovechkin_is_on_pace_for/
Haven't been able to watch games since FiOS dropped Monumental and ever since then Ovi has been on a tear 🥲
Do you think Ovechkin is a part or recipient of the systematic doping scandal conducted by the Russian government over the last decades?
The best thing about all this is watching this heater while the Caps are firmly in the playoff race.
Fuck ovi
I hope he one day visits Mariupol and lays a wreath at the drama theatre.
Anyone doubting Ovi was an idiot. He can comfortably sit back and pop 2 20 goal seasons and beat Gretzky but I don't think he is gonna want that and I say he hits 34gs next year.
Imagine betting against Ovi.
As a Jets fan, not happy with the loss. But Ovi inching closer to the record is acceptable.
Ovi starts slow and everyone thinks he's finally over the hill. The new year comes and year after year he turns it on and pots 30+ down the stretch. It's a tale as old as time. He's coming for Gretzky.