Washington Capitals: Alex Ovechkin 2020 Report Card
Time to grade Alex Ovechkin’s season Washington Capitals fans.
Alex Ovechkin played like a man on a mission in his 15th season with the Washington Capitals. On a quest for 700 goals and the chase for Wayne Gretzky’s record, Ovechkin had a 48 goal season and it would’ve been at least a 50 goal season had 2020 not brought a pandemic. Sadly the regular season was shut down and he was stuck at 48.
Ovechkin lost one game for skipping the All Star Game and then 13 more due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. He also had to deal with two lockouts, a shortened season and will likely have to deal with another shortened season this upcoming year. This negatively affects his chances of getting 894 but I’m not ready to doubt the great eight.
Ovechkin’s individual offensive rates shot up in 2019-20 with 20 shot attempts per hour and a third of the teams on ice offense. He had a 50.9 percent five on five shot attempt percentage, a 50.5 percent five on five expected goal percentage and a 47.5 percent of five on five goal percentage.
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Ovechkin regressed a bit on the power play but was still effective with 13 goals on the man advantage. Though that’s a dip from the 18 he had the previous year. He also had more in the 48 game season of 2013 with 16 power play goals. His 13 goals is his lowest since 2012.
Ovechkin had himself a great year though and he was recognized by the NHL by winning the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy. In the playoffs the rest of the team simply sucked but not Ovechkin. He had four goals and one assist for five points in eight games before they were bounced by the New York Islanders.
If Ovechkin wants to continue his dominance he has to maintain a level of consistency as the NHL will likely shorten the season. What would a good season for Ovechkin look like? I’d say 30 goals in 48 games or 40 goals in 72.
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Grade A+: Ovechkin gets an A+ for the second year in a row. As a captain and a leader of the team, he excelled on and off the ice. A 48 goal season is good and in my book it was another 50 goal season for the great eight. Ovechkin will become a unrestricted free agent at season’s end but he made it clear he wants to finish his NHL career in Washington. I have no doubt the two sides will work it out.