What’s going on with Alex Ovechkin and his scoring issues, which have continued to the point where he now has just five goals in 29 games and is scoreless in his last 14?
Steve Whyno of the AP joined JP Finlay for a little hockey talk Thursday, and yes, while the team as a whole isn’t scoring a lot of goals (and when they are, the contributions are coming from up and down the roster), Whyno told JP that the prospect of Ovi becoming the Goal GOAT is getting tougher to believe as each day passes.
“It feels like it’s getting bleaker; going into the season, it felt more like a when than an if; Gretzky’s record is unbelievable, but it looked like he, like LeBron James, was going to defy Father Time,” Whyno said. “But hockey players also fall off a cliff sometimes. Guys barely age gracefully.”
Never say never, but…
“It’s still possible he can have six goals in five games and get back on track, but he has to score 25-30 goals this year at least to even make it make sense to chase down this record,” Whyno said. “He’s 38 years old now, and he’s not going to score 40 or 50 goals at 39 or 40 years old. So it’s still possible, and you don’t want to ever count out Alex Ovechkin, but it looks a little harder each game he does not score.”
But is some of that just bad puck luck, and whether it is or not, should Ovi even care about the record?
“There is something to be said for him deserving more goals than he has scored so far, and some of the analytics say he should have more, but until we see it happening, you’re right,” Whyno said. “I do think he cares about the record, and I think he signed this contract in light of trying to get it, but at some point, either the puck is going to go in or not. We know there’s a lot of randomness about it, and we’ve seen him score so many goals in so many different ways over the years, but it seems like he’s far away from scoring goals.”
Take a listen to Whyno’s entire call-in with JP, which included thoughts on Ivan Miroshnichenko’s debut and his incredible story of perseverance, how the Caps are winning despite low goal differential, and more!
