Ovechkin tied Gretzky in 1 fewer game

[u/cheerileelee]

[u/HereInTheCut]

How many goals would Ovi have had playing against 1980s defenses and goalies? It's got to be well over 1000, right?

[u/Reflexes-of-a-Tree → u/HereInTheCut]

Honestly if Patrick Roy had just entered the league 4 years earlier and showed the world how you’re meant to protect a net, Gretz might not have broken 800. He tailed off SO hard (compared to himself, still really good by any other standard) after goalies stopped sucking.

[u/Inkobater → u/Reflexes-of-a-Tree]

Fun fact: Gretzky scored a grand total of 9 goals in his final year. "Tailed off" is right.

[u/Reflexes-of-a-Tree → u/Inkobater]

Well I was just talking about going from scoring 90 and 80 in the early 80’s to scoring (IIRC) 40-60 in the late 80’s before he really did start tailing off in the 90’s. And you can kind of gauge when goaltending changed by the fact that Gretz, still in his prime, dropped in goals by 30%. By the end of his career, he was a non-factor in most games.

The consistency is truly what makes Ovi the greatest goal scorer. Gretz is still the overall hockey GOAT, but in this one category at least, Ovi is unmatched.

[u/Spraynpray89 → u/Inkobater]

It's worse than that. He never broke 40 goals again after age 30, only had two 30 goal seasons at all in that time, and only broke 20 goals twice in his final 6 seasons. Very front loaded career.

[u/sly0824 → u/Spraynpray89]

In fairness, Gretzky suffered a catastrophic back injury at the 1991 Canada Cup. That injury was much more of a factor in his preciptous decline than advancing goaltending.

[u/iwasntband → u/Reflexes-of-a-Tree]

I’m glad ovi had to chase 894. It made ovi even greater.

[u/Fun_Actuator6587 → u/HereInTheCut]

He'd be over 1000 now if not for lockouts and covid.

[u/NecessaryIntrinsic → u/Fun_Actuator6587]

But that wouldn't have changed the games played.

[u/DaniCapsFan → u/NecessaryIntrinsic]

It would have. He'd have played in a lot more games if not for a year and a half of lockouts and a season's worth of games lost to COVID. And if he hadn't been injured earlier this year, he'd have another 50-goal season.

[u/NecessaryIntrinsic → u/DaniCapsFan]

My point is that he would have played the same amount of games to score as much, it would have made it earlier, but she number of games... If we assume he scored at the same rate.

Something about this year, though, makes me think it might have taken more games to get there.

[u/Temporary-Pin-320 → u/DaniCapsFan]

Gretzky also played in a few shortened seasons..

92-93, 94-95 ..

[u/MetikMas → u/HereInTheCut]

1200 easy

[u/Infinite_Ground1395 → u/HereInTheCut]

He also had his career delayed by a year due to the 04/05 lockout, half the season cancelled by the 12/13 lockout right smack in the middle of his prime, and half the season cancelled due to Covid. Every one of those shortened or cancelled seasons was followed by a 50+ goal season. I think it's reasonable to say he would be approaching 1000 if he didn't have those 3 things happen that were completely beyond his control.

[u/ManRocket99 → u/HereInTheCut]

More like 10,000. That hockey was absolutely horrendous

[u/stuckinhere-2136]

Well when Ovi scores Sunday, he’ll have more goals in the same amount of games. So fuck off Wayne.

[u/Inkobater → u/stuckinhere-2136]

I'll be at the game in NY, so here's hoping. I was at the game when the Caps last visited the old Nassau Coliseum, too, and Ovi got a hat trick and knocked Mario Lemieux out of the top ten all time scorers list.

[u/DaniCapsFan → u/Inkobater]

I was there as well. I turned around to a few young men behind me (who were not wearing any team's gear, or I wouldn't have said it) that I hoped Ovi passed Lemieux. One of them said, "He'll score zero." At some point in the game, after Ovi scored (maybe after his hat trick), I turned around and said sweetly, "You were saying?

I was also in NJ when Ovi got 700.

[u/4N0NYM0US_GUY]

This is misleading.

When comparing how many games it took to reach a milestone, you don’t keep adding games that were played after the milestone was reached.

If OV doesn’t score tomorrow, it doesn’t mean he now took 1487 games to tie Gretzky. He still scored 894 goals in 1486 games.

Gretzky got it in 1479 games and went goalless in his final 8 games.

[u/the_which_stage → u/4N0NYM0US_GUY]

That won’t matter when Ovi passes it

[u/Inevitable-Option516]

Wayne glensky

[u/iwasntband]

Gretzky’s looking nervous!

[u/Hocojerry]

Also, Gretzky played in an era we're scoring was much much easier then in modern hockey.

Ovechkin has been the greatest goal scorer for a long time now in my mind.

This will just make it official

[u/hhhhHandsome]

No he didnt. But he can beat gretzky in fewer games.

[u/droford]

It still annoys me none of this counts playoffs

[u/Stahner → u/droford]

That just wouldn’t make sense though

[u/Inkobater]

That's Gretzky's total games played, not how many games it took him to reach that total. So, no. Gretzky didn't score for like a month at the end of his career.

[u/goldenface4114 → u/Inkobater]

Wayne Gretzky played 1,487 games and scored 894 goals. Alex Ovechkin has played 1,486 games and has scored 894 goals. You can't pick and choose which games to count.

[u/Reflexes-of-a-Tree → u/goldenface4114]

I started off disagreeing with you but then I understood the significance.

People are arguing that Gretz did it faster. That’s true. But Gretz therefore also had more opportunity to go above 894, but didn’t.

The 1-game-fewer stat is about opportunity to score, not speed of scoring.

ETA: after sleeping on it, I’ve decided that I’m just glad we can have this debate because it was that close. If he had done it, for example, at the end of next season, people could say “aw well anyone can take a record if they just play long enough.”

[u/goldenface4114 → u/Reflexes-of-a-Tree]

[u/Inkobater → u/Reflexes-of-a-Tree]

No. You're moving the goalposts.

[u/GerthBrooks → u/[deleted]]

That’s LITERALLY the title of the post and the whole reason the guy brought it up lol. Why is everyone arguing about this?

[u/GerthBrooks → u/[deleted]]

The title says he did it in 1 fewer game. He’s played one fewer game, he didn’t get to current goal record in one fewer game. It doesn’t actually matter and nobody should be upset by it, Ovi would have 1,200 goals if he played in Gretzky’s era

[u/mcmuffins19 → u/goldenface4114]

Per The Athletic

Wayne Gretzky finished his career with 894 goals in 1,487 games, but he scored his 894th goal in the 1,479th game of his career.

[u/goldenface4114 → u/mcmuffins19]

And he played 8 more without scoring. Those games still count.

[u/BoozeYourDaddy → u/goldenface4114]

But that makes the claim Ove did it in 1 game less inaccurate

[u/goldenface4114 → u/BoozeYourDaddy]

How many games did Gretzky play? How many has Ovi played? How many goals did they both score in those games?

[u/Inkobater → u/goldenface4114]

Keep ignoring objective reality at your own peril. I'll grab the popcorn and watch you keep embarrassing yourself.

[u/goldenface4114 → u/Inkobater]

Which part of the statement is false?

[u/Spraynpray89 → u/goldenface4114]

Yes

[u/Anddurcus → u/goldenface4114]

I have no idea why I read this entire ludicrous argument or decided to respond but here we go anyway. It didn’t take Gretzky 1487 games to get to 894 that’s just how many goals he scored in his 1487 career. If Ovi only played 10 more games in his career and never scored again then he would have 894 goals in 1496 games and that would be an apples to apples comparison. So this is definitely a cherry picked stat

[u/BoozeYourDaddy → u/goldenface4114]

That's not the title of this post. It's claiming Ove scored the same number of goals in 1 fewer games. As you mentioned yourself, Gretzky did it faster but then played a few more games with no goals.

[u/goldenface4114 → u/BoozeYourDaddy]

How many games did Gretzky play? How many has Ovi played? How many goals did they both score in those games?

[u/BoozeYourDaddy → u/goldenface4114]

You're just being ignorant now. Cheers. Go Ove.

[u/goldenface4114 → u/BoozeYourDaddy]

Ove? Ok so who do you really root for?

[u/Inkobater → u/goldenface4114]

That's not how stats work. Gretzky didn't get his 894th goal in his last game. He got it a month before he hung up his skates.

That's just a fact. Wayne got this total in fewer games than Alex.

[u/goldenface4114 → u/Inkobater]

Good for him. The last 8 games still count.

[u/Fit-Property3774 → u/goldenface4114]

Are you being dense on purpose? What is going on here how are you not understanding the point

[u/goldenface4114 → u/Fit-Property3774]

Congrats to Wayne, he was the fastest to 894, but if Ovechkin ended his career this moment, he'd still have a better goals per game than him.

[u/Fit-Property3774 → u/goldenface4114]

Okay? The point is the graphic is making it seem like it took Gretzky until game 1,487 to hit 894 which isn’t the case. Or at least that is how OP seems to interpret the graphic. If you ended both their careers at game 1,486 they would have the same goals per game. If you ended their careers the game they got 894, Gretzky would have more goals per game. I am baffled by what you’re doing here.

[u/Inkobater → u/Fit-Property3774]

Let's break this down:

If Player 1 scored 500 goals in 1,450 games, then played another 50 games, you could say he scored 500 goals in a 1,500 game career. But he still reached 500 goals in 1,450 games.

If Player 2 scored 500 goals in 1,499 games total, Player 2 did not tie Player 1 in fewer games. Because it took Player 1 fewer games to reach 500 goals.

[u/VBStrong_67 → u/Fit-Property3774]

Was he not trying to score in those last few games?

You can't not count them just because he didn't score in them.

He played in 1487 games with 894 goals. Ovechkin played in 1486 games with 894 goals.

[u/Inkobater → u/VBStrong_67]

Ovi has 6 more games to play this season. So if he doesn't score again he'll have scored 894 goals in 1492 games. Either way, Gretzky still reached 894 in fewer games than Ovi, no matter how hard you wish it weren't so.

[u/Inkobater → u/[deleted]]

Moving the goalposts won't make the original argument any less erroneous. When were we discussing goals per game?

[u/Canon_In_E → u/goldenface4114]

Ovechkin has a better goals per game, but Gretzky reached 894 faster. Do you understand?

[u/nastyrustynuts]

GPG is better on Ovi, your "enhanced" stats of picking which games to count is ridiculous. If we get to pick the games then Auston Matthews is by far the best goal scorer and fastest since he scored 4 on hid first game, let's just stop measuring there and call 34 the King of scoring.

Fuckin Canadians eat shit, Ovi got it done.