Welcome to LWOS Hockey’s summer series, Call to the Hall, where we take a look at the next great player from each NHL franchise to get called to the Hockey Hall of Fame. There are a few caveats, the player must be active, and must have played 300 games (or 150 for goaltenders) with the franchise.
Call to the Hall: Washington Capitals
Despite never winning the Stanley Cup, the Wasthington Capitals have an impressive list of players in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Among them are Scott Stevens, who found greater glory in New Jersey but spent eight years with the Caps, 700 goal-scorer Mike Gartner, and of course Rod Langway, who won back-to-back Norris trophies as a Capital in the 80’s. You can also add Dino Ciccarelli, Sergei Fedorov, Phil Housley, Larry Murphy and Adam Oates to that list.
Among current Capitals, center Nicklas Backstrom has a very real opportunity to enter the hall one day, something that many weren’t even thinking about as recently as a few years ago. The durable playmaking pivot has averaged nearly a point-per-game over his career, and at 27 years old he has lots of great hockey left.
But really…let’s get serious here. Is there any choice other than the obvious?
Alex Ovechkin
As the son of a professional soccer player and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, Ovechkin had excellent bloodlines from the beginning. He got his start playing for Dynamo Moscow in the Russian Superleague, the precursor of the KHL. After head-turning performances both with Dynamo and with Team Russia at the U-18 World Championships (where he scored nine goals in six games in 2003) and the World Junior Championships, Ovechkin entered the 2004 NHL Entry Draft as the favorite to go first overall, and was viewed as a potential franchise savior (a tag that applies to most first overall picks, but one which would prove true for Ovechkin).
Following the 2005 lockout, Ovechkin made the jump to the Caps and had an absolutely explosive rookie season. He would lead all rookies in goals, assists, points, power play goals and shots. While both he and fellow rookie Sidney Crosby topped 100 points, Ovechkin easily ran away with the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie (he had 124 first place votes, while Crosby had just 4). Perhaps most impressive, his 52 goals where the third-highest total by an NHL rookie, behind only Teemu Selanne (76) and Mike Bossy (53). In just one season, Ovechkin had become one of the faces of the NHL, and was already being talked about as potentially one of the greatest snipers of all time.
Though “Ovi” took a slight step back in his sophomore year, the following three years were nothing short of dominant: Three 100-point seasons, three 50-goal years (including a sizzling 65 in 2007-08, the highest total since Mario Lemieux netted 69 in 1995-96), two Hart trophies, two Rocket Richard trophies, three Pearsons, an Art Ross, and three NHL First All-Star Team selection. It was, quite simply, one of the greatest runs of dominance the league had seen in decades.
However, the Capitals wouldn’t be able to get over the playoff hump, leading to some changes in the organization, particularly behind the bench, which appeared to hamper Ovechkin in the following seasons. Adjusting to new systems and adapting to a different style of play other than the all-out attack he was used to led to a hit in Ovechkin’s overall numbers. However, after a brief two-year lull (which would have been deemed successes for nearly any other player in the league), Ovechkin has been back to his old self since the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, adding two more 50-goal seasons, three more Richard trophies and another Hart to his trophy case (and, both amazingly and amusingly, was named to BOTH the First and Second NHL All-Star Teams in 2012-13).
In total, Ovechkin has scored 475 goals and 420 assists for 895 points in just 760 games, good for a 0.63 goals-per-game average and a 1.18 points-per-game average.
Internationally, Ovechkin’s resume is just as stellar as his NHL resume, as he’s represented Russia 20 times on the international stage, taking home 11 medals, including four golds. In total, Ovechkin has scored 41 goals and 71 points in 86 senior-level international matches.
With a list of accomplishments like that, there is absolutely no debate that Ovechkin will be a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer, whether he retires with a Stanley Cup or not. In just 10 NHL seasons, Ovechkin has led the league in scoring five times, been named MVP thrice, and earned year-end All-Star honors in nine seasons (though, again, based on a technicality, has been named to 10 year-end All-Star teams). At age 29, his numbers are simply staggering.
So the question isn’t whether Ovechkin will be inducted into the Hall of Fame or not, it’s where exactly he lands on the list of greatest forwards of all time. Is he top ten? Top five? It’s not too far out of the realm of possibility. His goals-per-game average is 3rd all-time in the modern era, behind only Bossy and Lemieux, while his points-per-game is 15th (and 3rd among active players behind only Crosby and countryman Evgeni Malkin).
Let’s assume Ovechkin plays 600 more NHL games, a big number, but not too outrageous because of his durability (which is impressive, considering he penchant for bit hits). Let’s also be a bit conservative and practical and assume his goals-per-game will drop over the remainder of his career, to around 0.50 or so (which would be a pretty steep drop compared to what we’ve seen from him so far). Even that would add another 300 goals to his total, putting him comfortably at the head of the 700-goal club and flirting with Gordie Howe for 2nd place on the all-time list. If he increases his pace, even Wayne Gretzky is reachable.
All of that comes with the obvious caveat, that we can’t predict the future, and Ovechkin could just as easily see his great career derailed by injuries, as it was for Bossy and Pavel Bure, two other players considered among the best pure snipers to ever play the game. So while Ovechkin’s odds of reaching those lofty totals he’s on pace to reach could be in doubt, his inclusion in the Hockey Hall of Fame is not.
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