Wayne Gretzky once said, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” Alex Ovechkin is the skating embodiment of this quote.
Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers, Ovechkin scored the 716th goal of his career and fired four shots on net. The four shots moved Ovi (5,639) past Jaromir Jagr (5,637) for second all-time on the NHL’s shots list.
Ovechkin now sits 570 shots behind Hall of Fame defenseman Ray Bourque (6,209) for first. It’s a record Ovechkin will likely own if he chooses to play two more seasons in the NHL and stays on at or near his same shots-per-game pace of 4.80.
Since entering the NHL in 2005-06, Ovechkin has fired 1,910 more shots than the next closest player in Eric Staal (3,729).
| Rank | Player | Shots |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Ovechkin | 5639 |
| 2 | Eric Staal | 3729 |
| 3 | Jeff Carter | 3460 |
| 4 | Phil Kessel | 3458 |
| 5 | Zach Parise | 3368 |
| 6 | Patrick Kane | 3309 |
| 7 | Patrick Marleau | 3261 |
| 8 | Sidney Crosby | 3243 |
| 9 | Rick Nash | 3201 |
| 10 | Patrice Bergeron | 3199 |
Ovechkin has led the NHL in shots during 11 different seasons (bold highlighted), including his first six in the league.
| Season | Age | GP | G | A | PTS | S | S% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-06 | 20 | 81 | 52 | 54 | 106 | 425 | 12.2 |
| 2006-07 | 21 | 82 | 46 | 46 | 92 | 392 | 11.7 |
| 2007-08 | 22 | 82 | 65 | 47 | 112 | 446 | 14.6 |
| 2008-09 | 23 | 79 | 56 | 54 | 110 | 528 | 10.6 |
| 2009-10 | 24 | 72 | 50 | 59 | 109 | 368 | 13.6 |
| 2010-11 | 25 | 79 | 32 | 53 | 85 | 367 | 8.7 |
| 2011-12 | 26 | 78 | 38 | 27 | 65 | 303 | 12.5 |
| 2012-13 | 27 | 48 | 32 | 24 | 56 | 220 | 14.5 |
| 2013-14 | 28 | 78 | 51 | 28 | 79 | 386 | 13.2 |
| 2014-15 | 29 | 81 | 53 | 28 | 81 | 395 | 13.4 |
| 2015-16 | 30 | 79 | 50 | 21 | 71 | 398 | 12.6 |
| 2016-17 | 31 | 82 | 33 | 36 | 69 | 313 | 10.5 |
| 2017-18 | 32 | 82 | 49 | 38 | 87 | 355 | 13.8 |
| 2018-19 | 33 | 81 | 51 | 38 | 89 | 338 | 15.1 |
| 2019-20 | 34 | 68 | 48 | 19 | 67 | 311 | 15.4 |
| 2020-21 | 35 | 23 | 10 | 10 | 20 | 94 | 10.6 |
| Career | 1175 | 716 | 582 | 1298 | 5639 | 12.7 |
All-time, Ovechkin owns six of the 21 most prolific shooting seasons in NHL history. The only player to ever shoot more than Ovechkin during his career-high shooting season of 2008-09 (528) was Phil Esposito in 1970-71 (550).
| Rank | Player | Shots | Season |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phil Esposito | 550 | 1970-71 |
| 2 | Alex Ovechkin | 528 | 2008-09 |
| 3 | Alex Ovechkin | 446 | 2007-08 |
| 4 | Paul Kariya | 429 | 1998-99 |
| 5 | Phil Esposito | 426 | 1971-72 |
| 6 | Alex Ovechkin | 425 | 2005-06 |
| 7 | Bobby Hull | 414 | 1968-69 |
| 8 | Bobby Orr | 413 | 1969-70 |
| 9 | Phil Esposito | 411 | 1972-73 |
| 10 | Bobby Hull | 408 | 1963-64 |
| 11 | Brett Hull | 408 | 1991-92 |
| 12 | Pavel Bure | 407 | 1992-93 |
| 13 | Phil Esposito | 405 | 1969-70 |
| 14 | Jaromir Jagr | 403 | 1995-96 |
| 15 | Alex Ovechkin | 398 | 2015-16 |
| 16 | Brendan Shanahan | 397 | 1993-94 |
| 17 | Alex Ovechkin | 395 | 2014-15 |
| 18 | Phil Esposito | 393 | 1973-74 |
| 19 | Brett Hull | 392 | 1993-94 |
| 20 | Bobby Orr | 392 | 1970-71 |
| 21 | Alex Ovechkin | 392 | 2006-07 |
Shooting the puck a lot is the only thing Ovechkin does better than scoring goals.
What a machine.
RMNB Coverage of Caps at Flyers
This post has been updated since publication to show the correct all-time single-season season shooting leaders table.
Stats via Hockey Reference/Stathead.com
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB
