GOAT

Well when Ovechkin scored his 600th much like his 500th, there has been a vocal minority that say Ovechkin is the greatest goal scorer of all time. This conclusion is based upon the fact the decade Ovechkin plays in is the so-called dead puck era where 50 goals and 100 points are almost impossible mountains to climb for a player in a season. Many also say that Ovechkin is the GOAT due to the larger physique of athletes both in nets and on defence as well as the speed of the game. However, there are many other things to analyze when deciding who is the greatest of all time. Here is my analysis.



First off, I think it is important to review a fundamental stat ‘goals per game’. Over his career, Mike Bossy has the best goals per game stats at a 76% clip scoring 573 goals in 752 games. Mario Lemieux comes in second if you consider his whole career. I would argue you should ignore the games after his comeback. After taking three years off Lemieux was obviously not the player he was before his retirement. If you just take into account Mario’s career before his first retirement then he comes in at first place with an 82% clip scoring 613 goals in 745 games. So you may ask where is the Great One? Well the problem in comparing Gretzky with Lemieux or Bossy is he had a much longer career and as great as he was age caught up to him in terms of scoring at the same pace. So if you try and cut off Gretzky at the same number of games as the other two, taking all his seasons with the Oilers and one season with the Kings, Gretzky has an 82% clip as well scoring 637 goals in 774 games. Other players of note who had above average goals per game stats include Phil Esposito, who during his time with the bruins scored at a 73% clip, and Brett Hull who scored at a 71% clip with the Blues. Meanwhile, Brett’s dad Bobby scored at a 66% clip during his time with Chicago. Ovechkin in the so-called drought era is scoring at a 60% clip.



The one thing we can’t ignore is that when Lemieux and Gretzky were scoring it was the 1980’s and 1990’s when scoring was rampant in the NHL. So maybe we should look at other methods of comparison. For example, when Gretzky set his record 92 goals in a season, second place went to Bossy at 64 goals for a 28 goal difference. When Gretzky scored 87 goals, Michel Goulet came in second at 57 goals for a 31 goal difference! When Lemieux scored 85 goals, Bernie Nicholls was able to get 70 the same year. When Brett Hull got 86 goals, three players scored 51 goals for an even wider gap of 35 goals. To put Rocket Richard on the same type of footing when he sniped 50 goals in 50 games, the second place goal scorer had 29 goals for a 21 goal difference in 50 games. When Esposito destroyed the scoring record with 76 goals, second place went to teammate Johnny Bucyk at  51 goals. Bobby Hull once got 54 goals in a season, his closest rival could only muster 31 goals. When Ovechkin got 65 goals in a season, Kovalchuk was able to get 52 goals.


Another approach is to look at how many 50 goal scorers were there at the same time. When Gretzky surpassed Esposito’s record with 92 goals, there were 9 other players that scored over 50 goals. When Lemieux chased Gretzky’s record with 85 goals, there were 5 other players that scored over 50 goals. When Brett Hull scored 86 goals, there were 3 other players that got over 50. Ovechkin has had 5 seasons as the sole 50 goal scorer in the league. Bobby Hull was the sole 50 goal scorer in the nhl for 4 seasons and at one time the only multiple 50 goal scorer.



In terms of consistency, Mike Bossy leads the nhl getting over 50 goals in 9 consecutive seasons. Gretzky did it for 8 seasons straight. Guy Lafleur had 6 straight seasons of 50 goals. Mario Lemieux, injury prone, never had consistency because he did not play sufficient games in certain seasons.


Playing styles had a lot to do with their goal scoring as well. Bobby Hull and Alex Ovechkin are comparable in that most of their goals came from a powerful precise shot that seemed to go right through the goalie. They also were very mobile with power skating helping their wind-up.  Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux used sleight of hand to score many goals. Gretzky would be behind the net and then spin in front and score on unsuspecting defence and goalies. Lemieux used many tricks including his favorite banking it off the goalie pad from behind the goal line. Lemieux had a more powerful and deadlier shot than Gretzky. He was also the king of one on one when he could either overpower or stickhandle around a defenceman with ease. Mike Bossy and Brett Hull basically used precision and a quick release for their goals. Phil Esposito was Mr Slot almost all his goals were from the slot or on a rebound. Maurice Richard was intense and fast and his goals came from this mix.

So who is the greatest of all time? I think this could be answered with this question if a team needed a goal who would be your choice to be out there to get the goal. My choice would be Mario Lemieux with Mike Bossy a close second. Unlike Bossy, Mario Lemieux could probably score on his own and not need someone to set him up. In terms of consistency Mike Bossy would probably be the one. Finally, let us not forget hockey is a team sport and the team and linemates might affect the production as well.