Photo: Amanda Bowen
What is there to say about Alex Ovechkin’s season that could not be said in 50-point, bright-red, italicized comic sans?
50 GOALSSSSS
Let’s do it.
By the Numbers
| 79 | games played |
| 20.2 | time on ice per game |
| 50 | goals |
| 21 | assists |
| 54.3 | 5v5 shot-attempt percentage |
| 63.4 | 5v5 goal percentage |
Visualization by Hockeyviz
About this visualization: This series of charts made by Micah McCurdy of hockeyviz.com shows various metrics for the player over the course of the 2015-16 season. A short description of each chart:
- Most common teammates during 5v5
- Ice time per game, split up by game state
- 5v5 adjusted shot attempts by the team (black) and opponents (red)
- 5v5 adjusted shooting percentage by the team (black) and opponents (red)
- Individual scoring events by the player
Peter’s Take
Alex Ovechkin scored 50 goals. If you want to talk about his season, you have to start there. Fifty goals. Since 2012, only three players have managed that feat, and they’re all Alex Ovechkin.
Now at age 30, Ovechkin is due for a decline, but we’ve been saying that for years and he’s proved us wrong every time.
Goals are up, possession is up, shot attempts are steady, and assists are too. This is a renaissance for Ovechkin, in spite of predictions to the contrary. If the piles and piles of goals hadn’t already proved it, Ovi’s ability to shake the trajectory of aging scorers and shirk the dreary expectations of pee-pants pundits make him a historically great player, one of the very best of all time.
Had things gone another way, we might have spent this space lamenting the long slow decline of a player who no longer betters his team but instead hoards his cash from a historically gluttonous contract.
Instead, Ovechkin is so good so often it’s hard not to be blasé about it. The Hunter and Oates years are now a blip, a temporary interruption that reflected not the player but the structure (or lack thereof) around him. Any reasonable person would have projected Ovechkin to drop under 50 goals this season, but Ovi’s 2015-16 defies reason.
If I had to pick a nit from 2015-16, it’d be assists. Ovechkin recorded just two primary apples during 5-on-5 this season. He did that despite having (arguably) his best linemates since 2010 and his highest 5-on-5 point production since 2013. You might construe that as a dig on Ovi as a playmaker (“one-dimensional”), but I think it speaks more profoundly as a challenge to Oshie and Backstrom next season than to Ovi himself.
It’s more encouragement than criticism. It’s quite possible that Ovi will maintain or even grow his already absurd scoring pace. The open secret that is the Ovi Shot from the Ovi Spot still works, his passing is still far better than he’s given credit for, his success in 2015-16 wasn’t driven by shooting percentage, and his linemates’ even-strength production was below par.
An inevitable fall into mediocrity is coming for Ovechkin, just as it did for Pearl Jam after 1998’s Yield, but until then, well, IS PARTY NOW.
We’ve still got the Ovi Shot from the Ovi Spot.
And the manic celebrations
And whatever the hell this was.
Ovi is the heart and soul of the Washington Capitals franchise. That heart is strong and that soul is young. Bring on 2016-17.
p.s. Alex Ovechkin scored 50 goals.
Ovi on RMNB
- Scoar moar goals: For the first time since 2013, Ovi completed a hat trick. It was good.
- In addition to the Messier (nomination) and the Richard (winner), Ovi was named to the all-star team. He did not play due to an injury he aggravated, reportedly, while snowblowing his walk during the blizzard after an impromptu gas station interview, getting suspended in the process. So go ahead an unpack all that. This freaking guy.
- It is fun to watch Alex Ovechkin play hockey.
- His shots are fast and hard.
- He hits people and they are stunned.
- He sets his alarm clock wrong and misses practice.
- He hits people and they make unplanned shift changes.
- He hits people and they are significantly injured. Oh, well, that’s less fun there.
- He has the league’s biggest contract, but he still bought powerball tickets. Can you believe this guy.
- About his new position as the Capitals franchise point leader, Ovi has the right idea: “I don’t care.”
- Here’s how NOT to defend Alex Ovechkin on the power play. Here’s how not to defend him during evens.
- This year we learned that the NHL was a bunch of Grumpy Garys about Ovi’s old tinted visor.
- Also this year, Ovi was the coverboy (is that a word? let’s go with it.) of DC Modern Luxury’s “Men of Style” issue. Point of order: this is Ovi’s style.
- Guess which NBC Sports personality said of Ovechkin, “he not fat.” It doesn’t really matter who guessed since they’re pretty much all uniformly bad.
- Lil Wayne is an Ovechkin fan. It must be nice to be liked by the 75,075th best rapper in the world.
- Nick Backstrom says he yells at Alex Ovechkin the most. Shyeah right. As if.
- Gord Dwyer, on the other hand, yeah I believe that.
- Kickin’ it with Wayne.
- Kickin’ it with Lance Corporal Josh Misiewicz, USMC.
- Kickin’ it with rando fan (amazing photo by Amanda)
- Kickin’ it with Djokovic and alleged sexual predator, Kobe Bryant.
- Kickin’ it with the Men in Blazers.
- Kickin’ it with a giant bobblehead Ovi.
- Can’t nobody reverse jinx like me. Ovi scored 484 that night after repeated squandered attempts thanks to Justin William’s meddling.
- On playing against Brooks Laich for the first time: “I’m pretty sure he’s gonna stand on the power play and when we have a power play he’s gonna be PK and I’m gonna shoot him in the foot and laugh about it.”
- What if Ovi as a demented bunny is the last image of the Capitals’ 2015-16 season. Would you be okay with that? This freaking guy.
- We wrote a story about Ovi tying and passing Jeremy Roenick’s goal total. I’m only including this bullet so I can mention the story we did ripping Roenick, which he may or may not have commented on; you be the judge.
- “It was like getting hit by a bus.” That’s Nate Schmidt on Alex Ovechkin’s post-goal hugs.
Thank you, Ovi. High five.
Your Turn
How much longer can he keep it up? What’s at fault behind Ovi’s lack of primary assists? What crazy stuff will he do next season? Who are the top 5 best rappers of all time?
Read more: Japers Rink
