[26-OCT-2016] #OviWatch Update...

#OviWatch

Career total: 528 goals career (844 GP)
2016-17 total: 3 goals (5 GP)
Next Target: #32.....Francis Mahovlich....533 G..........1201 GP

[18-OCT-2016] Caps 3, Avalanche 0

Caps WIN!!!

Tonight's 3-goal to 0 victory over the exhausted Colorado Avalanche gave Philipp Grubauer his first ever NHL shutout! 18 saves tonight for Grubi. TJ Oshie scored twice, and Ovi once to give the Caps a 2-0-1 record, and a +3 goal differential, vaulting them ahead of the Penguins after their third game of the season. 

Yeah, it's a little early for standings-watching, innit?

Heh.

#OviWatch

Our hero, Alex Ovechkin, scored his first goal of the season, a power play goal from his office near the left faceoff dot. That goal is Ovi's 526th career goal. He needs 8 more to pass #32, Francis Mahlovich. Known as "Frank," or "The Big M," Mahlovich was born in Timmins, Ontario, Canada. His NHL career began in the 1956-57 season for the Toronto Maple Leafs, for whom he would play 3 games in that season. He joined the Leafs full time the following year, and would play for them until the 1967-68 season before moving to the Detroit Red Wings. His career in Detroit ended in the 1970-71 season, which he finished for the Montreal Canadiens, and he would play for Montreal until the 1973-74 season before leaving the NHL for the World Hockey Association (WHA), a competing league that played until 1979 when they merged with the NHL. He tried a comeback season with Detroit that season, but it failed, and he retired. 

After his NHL career, Mahlovich served in the Senate of Canada (the upper house of the Canadian parliament). Mahlovich won six Stanley Cups in his career (1962, 1963, 1964, 1967 (Toronto), 1971, and 1973 (Montreal)), and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1981. 

#OviWatch Goal Chart

Highlights: https://www.nhl.com/video/t-282792524

[13-Oct-2016] New Beginnings...

Another year, another season begins. Tonight, the Caps face off against the hated Pittsburgh Penguins, in Pittsburgh, where the birds plan to raise their Stanley Cup banner. The one that we might have won, if a number of things hadn't happened... but that's water under the bridge now, and it's a new season. What's done is done, and nothing will change it, so this will be my last reference to the 2015-16 season on this blog.

As of tonight, only eight teams have a game in the books. Tonight, the Caps-Pens dance is slated to begin at 8:00 PM EST, and will be broadcast on NBCSN, meaning we'll have to listen to Pierre Maguire slurping Crosby, even though he's not playing tonight due to a concussion. I do wish Crosby a rapid recovery, and hope - for his sake - that he doesn't try to come back too soon and relapse, because that wouldn't be pleasant at all! 

In any case, because NBCSN is the "Nothing But Crosby" network, and I really don't want to hear it, I'll be "watching" my game on the radio, thank you John Walton! <3. 

So. Another year, another season begins, and we begin this season with our heroes: Alex Ovechkin, Braden Holtby, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nicklas Backstrom, T.J. Oshie, John Carlson, and Karl Alzner. 

#OviWatch

At the end of last season, Alex Ovechkin, sat at 525 goals in 839 games played, 33rd on the all-time scoring list.

In my last blog post of last season, I said that I believed Ovi could score 53 goals this season, and I'm standing by that estimation up front. 53 goals would put Ovi at 578 goals career in 921 career games, assuming he plays in all 82 games this season, and would land him in 20th place, ahead of current #20 Mark Recchi. Currently at 839 games played, he's played in the second fewest games in the group I'm placing him with, just behind Mike Bossy (752). Among members of this group, only Bossy and the great Maurice Richard reached their career marks in fewer than 1000 games played. 

Here's the all-time list.

#20.....Mark Recchi..........577 G..........1652 GP

#21.....Mike Bossy...........573 G...........752 GP

#22.....Mats Sundin..........564 G..........1346 GP

#23.....Joe Nieuwendyk.......564 G..........1257 GP

#24.....Mike Modano..........561 G..........1499 GP

#25.....Guy Lafleur..........560 G..........1126 GP

#26.....John Bucyk...........556 G..........1540 GP

#27.....Ron Francis..........549 G..........1731 GP

#28.....Michel Goulet........548 G..........1089 GP

#29.....Maurice Richard......544 G...........978 GP

#30.....Stan Mikita..........541 G..........1394 GP

#31.....Keith Tkachuk........538 G..........1201 GP

#32.....Francis Mahovlich....533 G..........1201 GP

#33.....Alex Ovechkin........525 G...........839 GP

Among active players, only Jaromir Jagr (749 G in 1629 GP) and Jarome Iginla (611 G in 1474 GP) have more goals than our Alex, and he can catch and surpass Iginla if Iginla has a bad season... or even a mediocre season. If you go back to 2003-04, Ovi has 525 goals to Iginla's 402, and last year, Iginla scored 22 goals to Ovi's 50. #3 among active players behind someone who has played 1474 games vs. Ovi's 839? Jagr has played in almost double the number of games Ovi's played in, with 1629, the most among active players, and 8th all time, but that's for another blog post...

#HoltBEASTWatch

At the end of last season, Braden Holtby (AKA HoltBEAST) had backstopped the Caps to a career high 48 wins, tying the great Martin Brodeur for the most wins in a season - and doing so playing in only 66 games to Brodeur's 78.

I'd love to see Holtby win 50 games this season. Among active goaltenders, Holtby sits at #20 with 149 career wins. If he wins 51, he will reach 200 wins this season. That is a pretty tall order... but if the Caps are the team I know they are capable of being in front of him, it is not impossible.

All-time, Holtby sits at #118 on the wins list, tied with Tim Cheveldae (340 GP), Michael Palmateer (356 GP), and Louis Myre (439 GP). With his mere 244 GP, Holtby tops these guys by a long shot, but that's the way the list on NHL.com works (just like Joe Nieuwendyk and Mats Sundin each have 564 goals, but Joe N. played in fewer games than Sundin did, so IMO he should be ahead in the list, but I don't run NHL.com, so...) 

Reaching the 200 win plateau, Holtby would tie Jaroslav Halak (367 GP) and Patrick Lalime (444 GP). Even if Holtby managed somehow to play in all 82 games - which will NOT happen - he'll only have played in 326 career games by the end of the season... A more likely number is 65. 

45 wins in 65 games would put Holtby at 194 wins career, which would catapult him to 83rd all time, just ahead of Alec Connell (193 W in 417 GP), and just behind Niklas Backstrom (196 W in 413 GP). That is where I'm going to realistically place Holtby at the end of the season, and the mark I predict for him to hit.

#KuzyaWatchin'

At the end of last season, Evgeny Kuznetsov had racked up 43 primary assists. It is way too early in his career to start looking up the ladder - and the records I've been able to find only go back as far as the 2007-08 season in any case - but I am predicting that number will go up this season. Since the 2007-08 season, the top 10 players in that regard are:

#01.....Joe Thornton.......299 1A...........695 GP

#02.....Henrik Sedin.......298 1A...........683 GP

#03.....Sidney Crosby......279 1A...........547 GP

#04.....Ryan Getzlaf.......273 1A...........648 GP

#05.....Evgeni Malkin......264 1A...........566 GP

#06.....Nicklas Backstrom..259 1A...........650 GP

#07.....Patrick Kane.......259 1A...........658 GP

#08.....Daniel Sedin.......240 1A...........664 GP

#09.....Henrik Zetterberg..263 1A...........637 GP

#10.....Martin St. Louis...233 1A...........607 GP

.

.

.

#291....Evgeny Kuznetsov....62 1A...........179 GP

Since 2007-08, the primary assist leaders have been:

08-09...Sidney Crosby.......51 1A

11-12...Evgeny Malkin.......46 1A

10-11...Martin St. Louis....46 1A

09-10...Henrik Sedin........46 1A

07-08...Pavel Datsyuk.......46 1A

15-16...Evgeny Kuznetsov....43 1A

14-15...Daniel Sedin........35 1A

13-14...Joe Thornton........32 1A

12-13...Sidney Crosby.......29 1A (lockout-shortened season)

Can Kuzya beat the current single-season primary assist leader? I sure hope so! As long as he doesn't drop off like he did late last season, I'm hoping to see him do it. I'm predicting he will at least have as many primary assists as he did last year. 

Backstrom, sitting at #6 (since 2007-08) behind five other active players, may be able to creep up the list, as well. I'm hoping to find a more comprehensive all-time list somewhere; stand by. S/T to Stats.Hockeyanalysis.com for the primary assist statistics going back to 2007-08.

#NickyWatch

Backstrom sits 17th among active players in assists, with 477 in 652 games played. Overall, he is 152nd. I'll put him down for 35 assists this season, as a lowball estimate. That puts him at 512 assists career. Steve Thomas (1235 GP) and Rick Tocchet (1144 GP) each have 512 assists, sitting at 132 and 133 in the list of all players. 

#TJWatch

T.J. Oshie, Ovi's faithful right wing... second-best smile on the Caps' team (with Nate Schmidt topping the list - and who could resist that boyish grin?), but I digress. Oshie scored 26 goals last season, the second-best on the team behind Ovi.  I'd like to see him up that this season... Will I? I don't know, but we shall see! 

#AlzyWatch

Since becoming a full-time fixture on the Caps' blue line in the 2010-11 season, Karl Alzner has not missed a regular season game. He appeared in all twelve of the Caps' post-season games last year as well, before being sidelined with a groin injury that has (thankfully!) since been repaired. Alzner's streak stands at 458 GP. If he plays in all 82 games this season, that streak will go to 540, putting him 18th on the list  of all-time NHL Ironman players with streaks of over 500 games (according to Wikipedia, insert grain of salt here). 

The Ironman record in the NHL is held by Doug Jarvis, who played in 964 straight games before retiring at the end of the 1987-88 season. In order for Alzner to break that record, he would have to play in every single Caps game through the 2021-22 season, and several in the 2022-23 season, a bit more than six more years. At age 28, that would put him some time in his 34th-35th year. Is it doable? Only time will tell, but I predict that Alzner will join the 500 club this season, at the very least.

2015-16.....458

2016-17.....540

2017-18.....622

2018-19.....704

2019-20.....786

2020-21.....868

2021-22.....950

2022-23.....1032

#CarlyWatch

John Carlson... what can I say about John Carlson? No longer the Caps' iron man, as his streak broke last year, but Carlson sits 9th on the Caps' all-time goal-scoring list, with 53 goals in 454 games played. Al Iafrate has 58, and Carlson should easily eclipse that this year,but next up is Silvain Cote, with 75 goals... Will Carlson have a career year? Will he score 22 goals in one season? Last year, he scored 8, appearing in only 56 games.

But... the year before that? Carlson scored 20 goals in 2014-15. 

Possible? MAYBE... Likely? Not very. Would I love it if it happened? Hell yes!

#LetsGoCaps

Last season's Washington Capitals won 56 games of 82. That puts them at #8 overall for a single season since 1917-18. Here's the list.

#1......95-96 Detroit Red Wings......62 W.....82 GP

#2......76-77 Montreal Canadiens.....60 W.....80 GP

#3......77-78 Montreal Canadiens.....60 W.....80 GP

#4......75-76 Montreal Canadiens.....58 W.....80 GP

#5......05-06 Detroit Red Wings......58 W.....82 GP

#6......70-71 Boston Bruins..........57 W.....78 GP

#7......83-84 Edmonton Oilers........57 W.....80 GP

#8......15-16 Washington Capitals....56 W.....82 GP

Can the Caps climb this ladder? I believe that they can, and will. I will not even attempt to predict how many games they'll win this season, but I hope it's a lot! I would love to see Holtby break that record he shares with Brodeur. He can do it, if the team plays well in front of him.

Let the 2016-17 NHL Season Begin! <3 And #LetsGoCaps!