Grading Alex Ovechkin after a brilliant season with Capitals

Next up on our Washington Capitals end of season player report cards is Alex Ovechkin, the great eight. It’s always a no brainer. Once again the great eight had a good season with the Caps even if it was a down season by his standards.

Ovechkin finished with 42 goals and 33 assists for 75 points. That brings up his career goal total to 822. He passed Gordie Howe in December. He is now 73 away from passing Wayne Gretzky for number one all time in NHL history in goal scoring.

Ovechkin’s advanced stats rarely get talked about but we’ll mention it here. His Corsi For percentage this season at five on five was at 49.35 percent. His Expected Goals For percentage was at 49.07 percent and his High Danger Chances For percentage came out to 46.39 percent, via Natural Stat Trick.

Ovechkin missed nine games this season. Four due to the death of his father Mikhail where he didn’t play in the Stadium Series. Later in the season he got hurt and missed five games but still played the final regular season game. He’s missed a total of 47 regular season games his entire career.

Ovechkin told the media on breakdown day:

“It’s part of the life but you never thought it’s going to happen, ever. It was hard for me and for all my family and friends, but it’s life. You just have to move forward and try to be mentally prepared for that stuff. Obviously, the team, fans, everybody support me, so I thank them very much, but, yeah, it was a hard year.”

Now his father Mikhail gets a nice skybox and a good seat to see his son break what was once thought to be one of the game’s most unbreakable records.

Grade A: No 50 goal season but Ovechkin now has the most 40 goal seasons in NHL history. For that he gets an A which seems to be a normal thing for our end of season report cards.