Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin scored his 500th career NHL goal over the weekend, becoming the 43rd major league skater to reach that threshold.
It’s a more remarkable attainment than one would think from that description, because unlike 32 of his fellows, Ovechkin did not have the advantage of playing NHL hockey in the 1980s. He’s a goal scorer nearly without peers in the modern game, and he’s one of the best pure snipers of all time, if not the best.
At the age of 30, he’s also nowhere near the end, and he’s going to pass plenty of other names on the all-time scoring list before he’s done.
It’s remarkable how few of Ovechkin’s contemporaries can compare. His career started in 2005-06; the next newest NHLer on the 500-goal list is Jarome Iginla, who entered the league nearly a decade earlier.
Patrick Marleau and Marian Hossa are both closing in on the 500-goal mark, but both are of basically the same vintage as Iginla. For players who have played exclusively in the 2000s, only Ovechkin and the departed Ilya Kovalchu ...
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Article written by Jonathan Willis