[30-NOV-2016] I'm not crazy! #OviWatch

Believe it: Alex Ovechkin is on track to break Wayne Gretzky's career goals record (ESPN)

[28-NOV-2016] #TrotzWatch

Barry Trotz currently sits at 671 career wins in 1381 career games coached.

#01...Scotty Bowman...............1244 W...2141 GC
#02...Joel Quenneville.............815 W...1480 GC
#03...Al Arbour....................782 W...1607 GC
#04...Ken Hitchcock................769 W...1426 GC
#05...Lindy Ruff...................711 W...1433 GC
#06...Dick Irvin...................692 W...1449 GC
#07...Pat Qunnn....................684 W...1400 GC
#08...Mike Keenan..................672 W...1386 GC
#09...Barry Trotz..................671 W...1381 GC

Trotzy's next win will tie him with Mike Keenan; two more wins will put him into the #8 slot all time. His win/loss ratio since his first season with the Caps is .673, projecting him to win 55 games this season. That will put him at 156 wins with the Caps, plus 557 wins with the Predators before coming to Washington, for 713 wins.

If Lindy Ruff were no longer coaching, that would put  him at #5... but it's not reasonable to expect Ruff to not win any more games this season, so... still, #6 is not too shabby! Ruff is winning at .474 with the Stars... at that rate, he'll end the season with 740 wins. He'll keep the #5 slot with that.

If Ken Hitchcock continues to win at his .426 rate with St. Louis, he'll have around 35 wins this season, which will put him at 792 wins, good for #3 above Al Arbour. 

If Joel Quenneville continues to win at the .613 rate he's been winning with Chicago, he'll end the season with 50 wins, and 851 total wins, so he'll keep the #2 slot. Q has a long way to go to catch Bowman... wow.

[28-NOV-2016] Game-Winning Goals (#OviWatch2)

S/T to QuantHockey.com for the stats on the most career game-winning goals of all time:

#01...Jaromir Jagr...............133 GWG in 1651 GP
#02...Phil Esposito..............118 GWG in 1282 GP
#03...Brett Hull.................110 GWG in 1269 GP
#04...Teemu Selanne..............110 GWG in 1451 GP
#05...Brendan Shanahan...........109 GWG in 1524 GP
#06...Jarome Iginla...............97 GWG in 1494 GP
#07...Guy Lafleur.................97 GWG in 1126 GP
#08...Mats Sundin.................96 GWG in 1364 GP
#09...Steve Yzerman...............94 GWG in 1514 GP
#10...Patrick Marleau.............94 GWG in 1433 GP
#11...Joe Nieuwendyk..............93 GWG in 1257 GP
#12...Sergei Fedorov..............93 GWG in 1248 GP
#13...Mark Messier................92 GWG in 1756 GP
#14...Mike Modano.................92 GWG in 1499 GP
#15...Alex Ovechkin...............92 GWG in  860 GP

I'd like to point out that of the top 15, only Ovi has played in fewer than 1000 games; the fewest games played to make the top 15 belong to Guy Lafleur, who achieved his 97 game-winning goals in 1126 games, 266 more games than our hero has played in to date. 

If we project that Ovi will continue to score game-winning goals at the same percentage of goals he's scored, he's at 92/537 or .171, so... 

This season, Ovi has scored 12 goals in 21 games played. That's a full season rate of approximately 47 goals or thereabouts. If he scores the game winner 17.1% of the time, that gives him 8 or so game winning goals, putting him at #6, ahead of Jarome Iginla, with 100 game-winning goals in 921 games played.

Let's see what our hero can do with the rest of his season! 

[21-NOV-2016] #OviWatch

#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.....Alex Ovechkin........534 G...........857 GP

Our hero has surpassed Francis Mahovlich for sole possession of the #32 all-time scoring leader in NHL history!

Next up, Keith Tkachuk (538 goals in 1201 games played).

Tkachuk was born March 8, 1972 in Melrose, Massachusetts. He is counted among the greatest American hockey players of all time. His NHL career began with the Winnipeg Jets in 1992, and ended with the St. Louis Blues in 2010. Along the way, Tkachuk also played for the Phoenix Coyotes and the Atlanta Thrashers. With those teams, Tkachuk played in 1,201 games, and scored 538 goals over a 20-season NHL career (counting his first season with the Jets, where he appeared in 17 games). 

Tkachuk has appeared in three Olympics, playing for the United States. He won a silver medal in Salt Lake City in 2002. Tkachuk also represented the United States in the World Cup of Hockey in 1996 and 2004, winning gold in the 1996 contest, and played in the World Junior Championships in 1991-1992. In his NHL career, Tkachuk appeared in 89 playoff games, scoring 28 goals in that time. His son, Matthew Tkachuk, was drafted 6th overall in 2016, by the Calgary Flames organization. He has played in 16 games so far this season, and scored 4 goals in his NHL career. Calgary is 8-11-1 20 games into the 2016-17 season. 

[15-Nov-2016] #OviWatch - 2 games in 2 days...

#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........532 G...........851 GP

One more goal ties Ovi and Mahovlich; 12 more ties him with the great Maurice Richard... 7 goals in 14 games this season puts him on pace for 41, which is behind where I still have him... but Ovi scores in bunches, so don't discount him yet!

#OviWatch - 532 goals in 851 games!