The most impressive part of 36-year-old Alex Ovechkin recording his ninth season of 50 or more goals is that he looks like he could do it a 10th time. He doesn't look like he is slowing down. Not at all. Ovechkin is now the oldest player to ever score 50 or more goals, surpassing Johnny Bucyk, who was 35 years, 308 days, when he scored his 50th with the Boston Bruins in 1970-71.
Scoring is up this season, at its highest rate since 1995-96, but Ovechkin has done most of his scoring during an era when scoring is considered difficult.
He scored twice against the Vegas Golden Knights Wednesday to reach 50. It was his 148th multi-goal game, tying him with Brett Hull for second on that all-time game. Wayne Gretzky holds the all-time league record of 189 multi-goal games.
Of course, Ovechkin is closely connected because these nine seasons of 50 or more goals is why he has a shot at breaking Gretzky's league record of 894 goals in a career. Ovechkin now has 780, meaning he could break the mark in 2024-25 if he continues to show a capability of scoring 50 or more goals.
The rest of the notebook:
2. Telling stat of the day: The Florida Panthers, the NHL’s No. 1 team, boasts a goal-differential of +100 this morning. The Montreal Canadiens, one of the league’s most storied franchises, has a goal-differential of -100.
3. The Edmonton Oilers have shut-up talk about the quality of their goaltending. The Oilers have done that by winning. They are 15-3-2 in their last 20 games.
4. With the Seattle Kraken adding former NFL player Marshawn Lynch and Grammy-winning rapper Macklemore as minority investors, it will be interesting to see if celebrity “owners… becomes an NHL trend. It doesn’t have any real impact on the team’s operation, but it certainly can create goodwill. Teams all have celebrity fans. The Nashville Predators have a host of Nashville elite to use including, but not restricted to Vince Gill and Amy Grant or Dierks Bentley or Tim McGraw.
5. The Lightning have the experience of two consecutive Stanley Cup championships. But they are 10th in scoring (3.30 goals per game) and ninth in goals-against average (2.78) this season. That’s not the same team we watched over the past two seasons.
6. Sidney Crosby is guaranteed to finish with a point per game average for the 17th consecutive season. He and Wayne Gretzky are the only players in NHL history to accomplish that feat 17 consecutive years.
7. It was 50 years ago this week when negotiators met in what was then called Czechoslovakia to reach an agreement to play a best-on-best Summit Series in the fall of 1972.
8. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury’s decision to play next season is not surprising. He loves hockey like Ernie Banks liked baseball. The same teams that considered trading for him this season will want him next summer.
9. When Wayne Gretzky posted an NHL-record 215 points in 1985-86, 25.1% of his points came on the power play. He had 143 even-strength points and 18 shorthanded points. Today, Connor McDavid leads the NHL with 113 points and 36.2% of his points have come on the power play.
10. When Darren McCarty played for the Detroit Red Wings, he stood up for teammates. Claude Lemieux can confirm that. Even in retirement, McCarty is still standing up for Red Wing players. When a columnist for the Octopus Thrower website questioned Dylan Larkin,’s leadership, McCarty used his Woodward Sports Network talk show to go on a rant defending Larkin.“I will not stand by,… McCarty said. “I can’t do anything to protect the kid on the ice. But I will crack a skull off the ice in two seconds.…
11. Kudos to the Pittsburgh Penguins for their institution of the Executive Management program for women and minority athletes. Their first selection is U.S. women’s hockey star Amanda Kessel, sister of NHL player Phil Kessel. She will spend one year with the Penguins’ front office. Like the plan and choice of Kessel. Interviewed her multiple times. Sharp hockey person.
12. The recent Jason Spezza Toronto goal from Mark Giordano and Wayne Simmonds is supposedly the “oldest… goal scored this season. Spezza and Giordano are both 38 and Simmonds is 33. That’s a combined age of 109. According to Sportsnet Stats, the Spezza-Giordano goal represents the oldest connection on a Maple Leafs’ goal since Tim Horton, 39, and George Armstrong, 39, combined on a goal on Dec. 26, 1969.
13. When the Nashville Predators play on the road against the Tampa Bay Lightning Saturday, Terry Crisp will be making his last appearance as a Predators broadcaster. He is retiring after this season. Because he was the Lightning’s first coach, the club will pay him tribute. The coincidence is that the day is actually the 30th anniversary of the day Crisp was hired as Tampa Bay’s coach. It’s also the 26th anniversary of the Lightning hosting the largest crowd in NHL history (28,183 at the Thunder Dome for a playoff game).
14. If Calgary’s Johnny Gaudreau maintain his +60 plus-minus it will be league’s best plus-minus since Wayne Gretzky was +69 in 1986-87.
15. In case you have forgotten who holds the NHL single-season record for plus-minus it’s Bobby Orr at +121 in 1970-71. If you wonder who his defensive partner was that season, you merely have to look at the fourth name on the plus-minus list. Dallas Smith of the Bruins was +98 playing beside Orr.
16. Only four players over age 30 have had plus-minuses that rank among the top 50 of all-time. They are Philadelphia’s Mark Howe (30, +87, 1985-88), Montreal’s Jacques Laperrière (31, +77 in 1972-73), Jacques Lemaire (31, +69, 1976-77 and Serge Savard (31, +62, 1977-78)
17. Detroit Red Wings prospect William Wallinder was named Swedish Junior Player of the Year. Among the past winners of that award: Victor Hedman, Peter Forsberg, Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Mats Sundin, Nicklas Backstrom, Henrik Lundqvist, Jacob Markstrom, Rasmus Dahlin, Viktor Arvidsson, Joel Eriksssn EK, Mats Naslund, Thomas Gradin and Anders Hedberg. That's pretty good company. 18. I looked at the NHL attendance numbers this morning and decided I simply don't trust them. As we continue to emerge from COVID, it feels as if we have fibbing going on in some cities.
19. Given the lack of centers in the free agent market, there should be multiple teams interested in Dylan Strome if the Blackhawks still want to move him this summer. He has 21 goals
20. Edmonton goalie Mike Smith's seven-game win streak is tied for the fourth longest by an Oilers goalie. The Oilers record for goalie win streak is 10 by Grant Fuhr (1985-86). Andy Moog (1982-83) and Tommy Salo (2000-01) both had nine.
21. Do you believe in the Carolina Hurricanes heading into the postseason? Just talking to people around the league, Carolina seems to be the one Eastern Conference team that people have doubts about. When I look at the 'Canes, I see a team that has everything it needs to be successful (as long as Andersen is healthy). This is what you call a very unscientific poll.
22. Tristan Jarry and Freddie Andersen have injuries. A handful of other teams have to wonder whether the goaltending will be strong enough. Maybe teams with dependable goaltending, such as the New York Rangers, Calgary Flames, Tampa Bay Lightning for example, have a bigger advantage than usual this season in the playoffs.
23. The Minnesota Wild have a quality offensive team and Fleury’s arrival has created plenty of optimism about their playoff chances. But here is a concern heading into the playoffs: the Wild are statistically the worst penalty killing team among all teams currently in a playoff spot.
24. Red Wings vice president Nicklas Lidstrom said in a Swedish television interview that he is anxious to see Swedish goalie Magnus Hellberg play for Detroit because the team will have a change in goal next season. Thomas Greiss and Calvin Pickard will be an unrestricted free agents.
25. On this date, April 21, 71 years ago, Bill Barilko, 24, scored the Stanley-Cup winning goal in overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 3-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens in Game 5 of the Final at Maple Leafs Gardens. That was the last game he ever played. On August 26, 1951, while returning home from a fishing trip in northern Quebec, the small plane he traveled on crashed. The wreckage was not found until 1962.