Crack Gretzky: will Ovechkin reach another Canadian record

The NHL season is coming to an Olympic break. On the night of February 5 to 6, Moscow time, the last matches of the regular season before the Olympics in Italy will be held, after which a three-week break without official games will take place overseas. On the eve of the break, several notable events involving Russian hockey players took place at once.

Alexander Ovechkin continues his pursuit of another Wayne Gretzky record and is trying to help the Washington Capitals make it to the playoffs, Florida Panthers goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky surpassed Dominik Hasek's achievement, striker Maxim Tsyplakov was traded from the New York Islanders to the New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers forward Matvey Michkov was criticized by the head coach, and Artemy Panarin moved from the New York Rangers to the Los Angeles Kings.

Ovechkin

Since the end of January, the main star of the capital's club has started a scoring drought again, which has lasted for four matches. In less than a year after setting the legendary record for goals scored in the regular NHL championships, Alexander Ovechkin increased this figure to 919 goals. At the same time, taking into account the playoffs, he is very close to the mark of a thousand goals - he currently has 996 of them. Thus, Ovechkin found himself in close proximity to another one, which for a long time was considered an eternal record by Wayne Gretzky. The Canadian scored 1,016 goals in his career, including the playoffs.

Theoretically, Ovechkin can score the missing 20 goals for the record this season. Washington has 24 matches left until the end of the regular season. However, for this, the capital's club needs to reach the playoffs, which is still difficult. The Capitals are four points behind the exit zone of the Metropolitan Division, while they have played more matches than most direct competitors.

The closest of them remains the New York Islanders, which Washington beat at home on February 3 in the most important face-to-face match with a score of 4:1. Ovechkin scored an assist in that meeting and surpassed Gretzky's achievement in the number of points in the goal + pass system in the NHL for one club, taking into account regular championships and the playoffs. The Canadian has 1,669 points for the Edmonton Oilers, while Ovechkin now has 1,670 for Washington.

Only five hockey players have scored more points for one club in the history of the league: Mario Lemieux (1723, Pittsburgh Penguins), Sidney Crosby (1744, Pittsburgh Penguins), Steve Yzerman (1755, Detroit Red Wings) and Gordie Howe (1809, Detroit Red Wings). Ovechkin's 40-year-old contract with Washington expires at the end of this season.

—Sasha is quite capable of breaking Gretzky's record for goals, taking into account the playoffs, already this season," Vladimir Krikunov, the former head coach of the Russian national team and Dynamo Moscow, who worked with Ovechkin at various stages of his career, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — There is no doubt that he will score the thousandth goal in the near future, after the Olympic break. But to set Gretzky's record, he will most likely have to stay in the NHL for at least another year. After all, Ovechkin is not getting younger and is not as stable as he was two or three years ago. Besides, for all his stellar status, he primarily works for the team, and only then for personal statistics. Sometimes he deliberately sacrifices it, giving the transfer to a partner or engaging in a power struggle, risking injury. Previously, damage was mostly avoided, but in recent years it has become more frequent. Nevertheless, I am sure that Sasha will still have a period when he will dramatically accelerate his movement towards the record, especially after the respite provided by the Olympic break.

Bobrovsky

On February 1, the Florida Panthers lost at home to the Winnipeg Jets with a score of 1:2, although the defeat could have been bigger. This did not happen thanks to the confident play of Sergei Bobrovsky. The Russian goalkeeper blocked 19 of 21 shots (90.5%). That match was Bobrovsky's 470th out of 791 in the regular NHL championships, in which he finished the game with a percentage of reflected shots of at least 90.

According to this indicator, the goalkeeper entered the top ten in the history of the league, ahead of the legendary Czech Dominik Hasek, who had 469 out of 735 such matches. Higher in this ranking are Martin Brodeur (741 out of 1266 matches), Roberto Luongo (653 out of 1044), Marc-Andre Fleury (595 out of 1051), Patrick Roy (593 out of 1029), Henrik Lundqvist (560 out of 887), Ed Belfort (524 out of 963), Tony Esposito (496 of 886), Curtis Joseph (495 of 943) and Ryan Miller (475 of 796).

However, the 37-year-old Russian's individual achievements do not save Florida from systemic problems. The current two-time Stanley Cup winner occupies the last place in the Atlantic Division and is 11 points behind the Buffalo Sabres, which closes the playoff zone. While maintaining momentum, Paul Morris' team risks resigning its championship powers as early as April — the playoffs start in the middle of the month and last until June.

"This is far from the first time in the NHL that the reigning champion gets into a crisis next season and either does not make the playoffs or crashes out at an early stage," two-time Olympic champion Alexander Kozhevnikov said in a conversation with Izvestia. — This happens especially often with teams that have been at the top for a long time. "Florida" is one of them.: three consecutive Stanley Cup finals appearances and two wins. But any cycle ends at some point - motivation is lost, rivals adapt, and the squad ages. This applies to Bobrovsky and Dmitry Kulikov, who are already over 35 years old, and not only them. Therefore, it is logical that Florida is currently on the decline, although Bobrovsky is trying to play at his maximum.

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Tsyplakov

At the beginning of the year before last, Maxim Tsyplakov produced one of the most productive stretches in the KHL, playing for Spartak Moscow. At that time, the media actively discussed the interest in the striker from more than ten NHL clubs. As a result, in the summer of 2024, Tsyplakov went overseas, signing a one-year rookie contract with the New York Islanders.

In his regular season debut in the NHL, the forward scored 35 points, which allowed him to earn a full two-year deal with the Long Island club. However, at the end of January, the Islanders traded Tsyplakov to the New Jersey Devils for star Czech forward Onjay Palat, a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Tampa Bay Lightning (2020, 2021).

Tsyplakov has moved not far from his former base and will now play in the same team with two other Russian forwards, the experienced Evgeny Dadonov and Arseniy Gritsyuk, who moved to the NHL from SKA St. Petersburg last year. Maxim has already played three matches for New Jersey, but has not yet shown any results. The Devils themselves occupy the penultimate place in the Metropolitan Division and are nine points behind the playoff zone.

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Panarin

On February 4, at 23:00 Moscow time, the NHL began freezing rosters, meaning that clubs cannot exchange players until the end of the Olympic break. Most of all, it concerns New York Rangers forward Artemy Panarin, who has not played for his team since January 27.

The Manhattan club is in last place in the Metropolitan Division and in the Eastern Conference as a whole. The chances of making the playoffs are almost zero. And back in January, the management announced the beginning of the restructuring of the age structure. It became clear almost immediately that the main star of recent years, Artemy Panarin, would leave the club this year.

The 34-year-old striker's contract ends in the summer. But it is logical that the New York Rangers will try to trade him during the current season in order to get some assets for a player of this level. But there is a caveat: when Artemy joined the club in 2019, his seven-year contract included a ban on exchanging without the consent of the hockey player.

Therefore, Russians are free to choose the most profitable option for themselves. As a result, Panarin joined the Los Angeles Kings, who are fighting to reach the playoffs, just before the freeze set in - three points behind their nearest competitor in the Pacific Division.

The NHL regular season will resume on the night of February 26, Moscow time, after the end of the Olympics in Italy. These Games will be the first since 2014 in Sochi, which will be attended by the leading stars of the strongest hockey league in the world. At the same time, the Russian national team, as before, will not participate in the tournament: the national team remains suspended from international competitions for political reasons since February 2022.

Starting in the summer, Artemy's new contract with the club from California will come into force for two years, in each of which the player will earn $ 11 million.