Who Is Actually The Greatest Goal Scorer Of All-Time And Where Does Ovechkin Fit In
Mike Kelly and the boys up at LeafsTV put together this package to help quantify exactly how impressive Ovechkin’s career has been so far. Everyone thinks that I hate Ovi, and well…there’s some truth to that. I don’t think you can win the Cup if Ovechkin is your most important player and Captain, but that theory looks like it’s going to be seriously tested this season(and if the Caps do win the Cup I’ll say that Holtby is their most important player, I’m always one step ahead). What I have never denied is that Ovi is the best pure goal scorer of my lifetime. He scores on the rush, he scores from the point, he scores from every where. That little sharp angle shot from the bottom of the circle is Ovi’s office.
Mike and Craig Button used their formula to adjust for eras to see where Ovechkin stacks up against the likes of Gretzky, Bossy, Rocket Richard, Mario Lemieux, and the other all-time greats. I was definitely surprised by the results. For whatever reason “goal scorer” isn’t the first thing that pops in my head when someone says Mario Lemieux.
Just on gut instinct I would’ve said the 5 greatest goal scorers are 1) Wayne Gretzky, 2) Brett Hull, 3) Mike Bossy 4) Ovi, and 5) Rocket Richard.
But now math says I have to change the way I think. Tough pill for me to swallow since math and I don’t get along very well.
Mike Kelly came on the podcast. We talked about Bob McKenzie, the JVR rumor, the Maple Leafs rebuild, Barstool in Canada, his era-adjusted metric, and he made a prediction for the Eastern Conference. You can follow Mike on twitter @MikeKellyNHL. He’s a real pro. I felt about 2 feet tall while recording the podcast with him. The most polished broadcaster ever to jump on the Barstool pirate ship. Probably our best hockey podcast to date. Check it out here.