( Eric Wilcox / flikr )

It was his rookie year and Washington was in Phoenix playing the Coyotes. Half-way through the third period and with the Capitals in their own end, the puck bounced over the Phoenix defender’s stick and was just laying there on the right-wing boards in the neutral zone. Flying in from the left side, he swoops up the puck and in a matter of seconds, the other Phoenix defender closes in on him. As he comes down the boards and enters the Coyotes’ zone, he does a little dippsy-doodle with the puck, but the defender lifts his stick with force. Normally, in this instance, the puck would just float off to the corner and the play would be dead. But, this time the hockey gods had their input. Instead of rolling to the corner, the puck is blocked by the defender’s skate and takes the perfect deflection. The defender and he begin wrestling for stick position and he begins falling, only to have the puck land right back on his stick blade. As he lays on the ice, rolling from his right shoulder on to his back, he blindly sweeps the puck past the goalie and into the net.

You can watch 100 “best NHL goals” lists and all of them are going to have that as number one. The best goal ever scored by the best goal scorer ever: Alexander Ovechkin.

It’s very seldom that people live up to grandiose expectations, but Ovechkin not only lived up to them, he looked at them, said in Russian, “What the heck are these?”, then blew past them while setting a new standard for goal-scoring.

That standard he skated into was set by Wayne Gretzky. But, in essence, Gretzky wasn’t really a pure goal-scorer.

( asylumgfx / flikr )

I know that sounds crazy. He holds the record for most goals in a season with 92 and has the most goals all time with 894, yet he wasn’t a goal scorer?

Not really.

Gretzky was just so much better than everyone in every aspect of the game and was on a stacked team with the 80’s Oilers. He was more of a playmaker than a goal scorer. Put it this way: Gretzky has more career assists than anyone else has career points. The Great One could have scored as many goals as I have in the NHL and still be the leader for all-time points.

In terms of the era he played in, goals came by the bucket load. If the Oilers allowed six, no problem; they would just score eight with their star-studded line up. Play was way more open, goalie pads were tiny compared to todays’ and the overall game was in a completely different state. To put it in perspective, the Oilers had a defenseman who scored 40 goals. Twice. And to put perspective into the perspective, only two defensemen have scored 30 goals in a season since 1990.

This isn’t to diminish Gretzky’s scoring ability or to imply he only scored that much due to his teammates and the era he played in. If that was the sole reason he got those numbers, he wouldn’t have been the only one scoring at that pace at that time. He’s the greatest hockey player of all time, but in terms of pure goal-scoring ability, that’s the one crown that king can’t wear.

( Dougals Family / flikr )

Ovechkin has scored his 733 goals (161 from Gretzky’s record) in what some would consider the toughest era to score in. With more parity around the league, better coaching and most importantly, better goalies who wear bigger pads, The Great Eight has done his damage every single year.

If we look at Gretzky’s goal scoring, it significantly declines in the second half of his career. He scored at least 50 goals in all of his nine years with the Oilers in the NHL but then again, the era has to count for something.

Let’s take a specific year as an example. The year Gretzky scored 71 goals in the 82-83 season, six other players scored at least 50.

Compare that to today’s league.

In the past decade, the most 50-goal scorers in the league in the same season has been only two.

When considering this, this not only illustrates the era-adjustment, it brings up the question of consistency. If he’s scoring at a rate of 92, 71, 87, 73 goals in a season (in consecutive years), his goal totals are going to skyrocket in the early part of his career. But, if we compare them at the same age later on in their careers, Ovechkin takes the cake. Or the puck.

From age 32-36 (his current age) Ovechkin has played 278 games (COVID hampered season included) and scored 175 goals. That’s 0.63 goals per game.

Gretzky, at that age and playing in 254 games (lock out season included), scored only 88 goals. That’s a goals per game rate of 0.35.

( Offwing Opinion / flikr )

It says a lot when someone can do the same thing over and over again, year after year, even when defenses quite literally strategize to defend him and only him at times.

The major difference in consistency though is Ovechkin has never scored less than 30 goals in a full season. Heck, even in one of the lock-out years when they played only 48 games, he still scored 32 goals! If we stretch that out to an 82-game year, that’s a 55-goal pace.

Ovi’s won The Rocket Richard trophy more than anyone else in history (nine), he’s been the gold standard for goal-scoring since he entered the league and now, he’s only 161 goals away from a record that, when I was a kid, everyone said would never be broken.

Being 36 years old, maybe Alexander The Great just doesn’t have enough time to catch The Great One’s record, but even if he were to stop playing today, he’s the greatest goal scorer of all time. The numbers speak for themselves.

( clyde / flikr )

From Gretzky to Ovechkin and now, Ovechkin to who?

The new favourite to carry the torch of the “best goal scorer” in the league is the Maple Leafs Auston Matthews, who’s from Phoenix and grew up a Coyotes fan.

And it’s funny how they can pass a torch over ice…

Matthews was at the game, watching as an eight-year-old, when Alex scored the “greatest goal ever”.

But, it get’s even funnier.

The coach of the Coyotes that night?

Wayne Gretzky.