Is Ovechkin Done?

[Cash or Czech]

Bit of a clickbait title, but the stat line says a lot. 6 goals through 30 games, career low 5.2% shooting % on a team rebuilding and simply not tooled to surround him with talent. His shots/game is actually the highest it's been since 2015-16. I think after scoring 42 last year, we kind of expected Ovechkin to cruise to Gretzky's record. I'm not so sure about that now as age may finally be catching up to him.

[siddious]

It’s only because I took him in fantasy. 
 

he will be fine next season.

[Br4d]

Is this a pitch to trade Igor for Ovechkin?  p)

[Valriera]

lol he is absolutely not done. The guy is a marvel 

Edited December 22, 2023 by Valriera

[Blue Heaven]

I don't think he can lose his hands that fast from scoring 40-50 goals to 10 in one season, just bad luck.  He'll go on a roll and fill the net at some point

[Phil]

No. Every time this is asked, he scores like 50 goals.

[RangersIn7]

I don’t believe he’s done. He still has the shot and many of the attributes that’s made him the scorer he is, to high levels. 
 

Still though, for him to have so few goals while still shooting a lot is a bit concerning

[Sharpshooter]

It wouldn't surprise me if he has a goal scoring splurge in the second half. It is clear he's definitely slowing down, though. 

[RJWantsTheCup]

If the Caps think he’s done and want to give up on him we should gladly go get him.  

[siddious]

Kakko for ovie. I’ll throw in a third for retention. 

[Cash or Czech]

Maybe Ovie and Zibanejad can sit on each others' shoulders during the powerplay

[Sod16]

No thread about Ovie should be absent a snarky comment about Putin.  So here, Putin!

[siddious]

Probably just can’t get the Russian gas due to shortages associated with the war in Ukraine 

[jsm7302]

Never seen this guy so ineffective in his career. He may very well be ready to call it a day.

[Cash or Czech]

Hence the post. The stats just back it up. He's more than just snake bitten. He looks like he doesn’t give a shit, and skates like Stu Bickel. Plus a team that just lacks talent. 

[Ozzy]

He was damn near invisible last night.  I think they called his name 3 times during game play.

Edited December 28, 2023 by Ozzy

[Sharpshooter]

I always sided with Penguins fans on the whole 'Crosby is better' thing, and I'll stick with that. 

 

But yeah, he's definitely slowed down. It's weird to see, but it was only a matter of time. How many more years left on his deal? Two? He can at least pass Gretzky in goals, which is incredible, and ride off into the sunset.

[siddious]

2 hours ago, Ozzy said:

He was damn near invisible last night.  I think they called his name 3 times during game play.

I actually forgot he was on the caps I didn’t notice him at all

[Valriera]

He’s missing backstrom a lot

[RichieNextel305]

Is he done? No. But he most definitely took a major, major step back. He doesn’t move nearly as good. He’s very stationary. I get that he’s not gonna be the heat seeking missle he used to be. But even offensively, when he got the scent of an opportunity, he’d go balls out for it. Now? Not so much. He’s hardly any type of a threat off the rush whatsoever anymore. He’s very much a one trick pony in his office on the PP. And like others have said, he badly misses Backstrom feeding him.

 

Again, I caution that this is right now. Would I at all be surprised to see him go scorched Earth and score 40 goals in a 2 week stretch? Probably not. But, I don’t see it in the cards. I do think he’s going to eventually grab Gretzky’s record. He’s too close to abandon hope there. But it may take a bit longer than we all thought.

[Keirik]

I'm not sure if he's done as much as he's doing to have to make some major offseason training adjustments to shed some pounds and regain a bit of the step he's lost from age. 

[Pete]

I don't think he has to do anything at all, or rather there's not much he can do on his own.

 

The team needs more weapons. The underlying stats show he's as dangerous as ever, but the power play is trash and other teams just load up defending him. 

[jsm7302]

14 minutes ago, Pete said:

I don't think he has to do anything at all, or rather there's not much he can do on his own.

 

The team needs more weapons. The underlying stats show he's as dangerous as ever, but the power play is trash and other teams just load up defending him. 

That's an interesting take and tbh, I haven't looked at the stats. So with a true #1C, you believe we see a much less degraded version of Ovi? If so, GET THIS MAN A CENTER!! I don't want to see Crosby ride off into the sunset sitting higher.

[Keirik]

3 hours ago, Pete said:

I don't think he has to do anything at all, or rather there's not much he can do on his own.

 

The team needs more weapons. The underlying stats show he's as dangerous as ever, but the power play is trash and other teams just load up defending him. 

probably a lot to that, but he's still getting off his shots.He's top 15 in shots on goal. He's just not getting to his normal areas, likely in part from slowing down and not driving as much to high danger areas. He did have 40+ goals last year with a very similar roster and Backstrom out for half the season.

 

Here is his shot distribution last year.

 

 

Here is this year so far

 

 

 

  There likely is a few factors into his slow down and sure, some of those middle of the ice takeaways are due to adjustments and taking away his ice, but career wise 31% of his goals are from the center of the ice just above the crease between the dots as shown here

 

 

This year? 8%. woof. He needs a bit of an adjustment to be less stationary and a bit trimmed and slimmed.

 

 

[Pete]

On the power play... 

 

Quote

About 30 percent of the winger’s unblocked attempts have missed the net, which is relatively low compared to years past. But one difference is just how much opponents are blocking his shots. Just under 32 percent of his attempts have been blocked this season, which is pretty close to last season. On average (going back to 2007-08, due to data limitations), penalty killers only blocked about 27 percent of his shots.

 

In years past, penalty killers couldn’t afford to overcommit to Ovechkin even though he was the team’s biggest threat on the power play. There was too much talent elsewhere on that top unit to stay aware of. So having fewer options on the power play now likely plays into why penalty killers are actively blocking Ovechkin’s shots even more.

 

At even strength... 

Quote

But according to Corey Sznadjer’s tracking, his primary centers Dylan Strome and even Evgeny Kuznetsov have been moving the puck less. Both players have seen downticks in their passing to set up their teammates’ shots and scoring chances, and there isn’t a playmaking winger who can skate across Ovechkin to make up for that on this roster. That may explain why his shot and scoring chance numbers are down relative to last year in his isolated minutes with both Strome and Kuznetsov.

https://theathletic.com/5144384/2023/12/18/alex-ovechkin-nhl-scoring-analysis?source=user-shared-article

 

I doubt losing weight helps with any of that. The guy has been playing at 6-3 235 for some time. You don't just lose it off of 40 goal year without outside factors. 

Edited December 29, 2023 by Pete