NHL 2024-2025: Definitely the Leafs year

The last time the Sabres made the playoffs, Ovechkin was 594 goals away from breaking the record.

TomServo said:

It's a mammoth accomplishment. It also makes me have renewed awe for all gretzkys accomplishment. Those assists and lifetime points.

People always say this or that is the jordan of this or that sport. Really it's that jordan is the gretzky of basketball.

All time goat

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Yeah, we'll never see anyone approach those totals unless some crazy rule changes come into play. Obviously the biggest reason was that Wayne was the goat, but also to basically have the entirety of your prime in the 80's and early 90's mostly on a team that became a dynasty...just nobody is going to get those boosts to their scoring, along with just Wayne being the goat he is.

Araysar said:

hey remembers this goalie?

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What a clown

Penance said:

What a clown

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Acting like there would be no reprisal for it to family members back home. I'd have thought Hasek would have considered that.

Merrith said:

Yeah, we'll never see anyone approach those totals unless some crazy rule changes come into play. Obviously the biggest reason was that Wayne was the goat, but also to basically have the entirety of your prime in the 80's and early 90's mostly on a team that became a dynasty...just nobody is going to get those boosts to their scoring, along with just Wayne being the goat he is.

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I wouldn't say never. We already see someone scoring at a higher goals/gp than Ovi did in Matthews. The issue isn't the goal scoring, it's doing it while being able to stay healthy and that will eventually happen.

Byr said:

I wouldn't say never. We already see someone scoring at a higher goals/gp than Ovi did in Matthews. The issue isn't the goal scoring, it's doing it while being able to stay healthy and that will eventually happen.

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We'll see if Matthews maintains that pace, some of him passing him I think was the dip Ovechkin had during coaching/systems changes around 7 seasons in, and Matthews hitting his peak year at the exact same point. If you go past that 2 season blip, the next 4 seasons (including the 48 game lockout affected one) he scored above a 50 goal/82 game pace that entire stretch again. At that point 11 seasons in, Ovechkin had 839 games played and 525 goals. Matthews has 398 goals in 623 games, currently. He'll need to maintain a 47 goal/82 game pace over his next 216 games to be at the same pace at that point.

Health is obviously a big part of it, but it's the consistency over such a long period of time, too. Nobody has ever really had the steady average Ovechkin has had post age 30. 475 goals before age 30, 419 so far post age 30 (34 less games post 30). The health just affects the overall total you can reach, in the end (assuming no injuries that affect production long term after returning). That and missed time due to random reasons. Ovechkin potentially missed rookie season due to lockout, and another halfish season lockout in '12-'13. Both of them lost another half season total roughly due to covid.

Edit: Also the never was mainly referring to Gretzky's assist and point totals. There just isn't math there for anyone to approach either, currently.

Man with how Ottawa is rolling, the Atlantic could be a total bloodbath. Montreal not looking like a fun team in Round 1 for probably us, either. Shades of 2010.

Daezuel said:

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I mean, should be a penalty for holding the stick, but damn that's some skill.

Habs win again tonight and have almost locked things up for the playoffs. What's even more exciting is that we also signed Deminov who will be coming for the end of the regular season & post-season. Going to be absolutely insane to see him play against Ovi in the 1st round, which is the most likely match up.