On Thursday night, Alex Ovechkin was credited with his 6210th shot on goal, passing Ray Bourque and becoming the all-time most shoot-iest player in NHL history.
It’s just one more record in a career increasingly bursting with them.
The tiebreaking shot was a rush attempt against Cam Talbot halfway through the third period. He got another on the same shift.
The top ten now looks like this:
| Player | Shots |
|---|---|
| Alex Ovechkin | 6211 |
| Ray Bourque | 6209 |
| Jaromír Jagr | 5637 |
| Marcel Dionne | 5363 |
| Phil Esposito | 5166 |
| Al MacInnis | 5157 |
| Mike Gartner | 5090 |
| Wayne Gretzky | 5088 |
| Brendan Shanahan | 5086 |
| Brett Hull | 4876 |
And counting.
Ray Bourque is, in short, a legend. A five-time Norris winner, he played an offensive brand of defense for the Boston Bruins for more than twenty years. At the end of his career, he moved to the Colorado Avalanche, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in the final game of his career.
The NHL didn’t track shots until the 1960s, meaning the first decade of Gordie Howe’s career had no shot data.
Meanwhile, for Ovechkin volume has always been the secret to his scoring. He has regularly finished at or near the very top in total shots on goal. He’s maintained that volume even into his 30s. A breakdown by season, up until 2022-23:
| Season | Shots |
|---|---|
| 2005-06 | 425 |
| 2006-07 | 392 |
| 2007-08 | 446 |
| 2008-09 | 528 |
| 2009-10 | 368 |
| 2010-11 | 367 |
| 2011-12 | 303 |
| 2012-13 | 220 |
| 2013-14 | 386 |
| 2014-15 | 395 |
| 2015-16 | 398 |
| 2016-17 | 313 |
| 2017-18 | 355 |
| 2018-19 | 338 |
| 2019-20 | 311 |
| 2020-21 | 182 |
| 2021-22 | 334 |
To put Ovi’s accomplishment in perspective, the Capitals PR posted some incredible stats.
Ovechkin has averaged 4.74 shots per game in his career, while Bourque averaged 3.85 (6,209 shots in 1,612 career games).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) December 23, 2022
Since entering the NHL in 2005-06, Ovechkin leads the League in shots, holding a 2,398-shot lead over the next-closest player (Eric Staal: 3,813 shots).
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) December 23, 2022
Here’s to the next 6,210.
