KO'S TAKE
Ovechkin Is the Greatest Goal Scorer Ever and It Is Not Close
Let me save everybody some time. There is no debate. There never was a debate, not really. Alex Ovechkin is the greatest goal scorer in hockey history, and the gap between him and second place is the size of the gap between second place and tenth.
929 goals. Say it out loud. Nine hundred and twenty-nine. Wayne Gretzky's 894 was supposed to be the unbreakable record, the one they put in the museum with a "do not touch" sign. Ovechkin walked past it like it was a speed bump, then kept going until he became the first human being to score 900.
And here is the part people sleep on: he did it in the hardest era to score in. Goalies are bigger, systems are tighter, everybody blocks shots now. Gretzky was dropping 92 in a season when goalies looked like they were wearing couch cushions. Ovi was sniping in the dead-puck era, year after year, from the same spot on the ice, and everybody in the building knew it was coming, and nobody could stop it. The most predictable unstoppable weapon in sports history.
Then there is the durability. At 40 years old last season, the man played all 82 games and led his team with 32 goals. Forty. Most guys are doing car commercials by then. Ovi was still out there running dudes through the boards and ripping one-timers.
So enjoy this last ride. When he hangs them up, the record is 929 and counting, and nobody alive is catching it. The debate is over. It has been over.
Kingston Outlaw is The Sports Nus hot-take host. KO's Take runs on the biggest story in sports.