Alexander Ovechkin and his 50 goal season

Alexander Ovechkin, currently the second-leading scorer in NHL history, has scored 838 goals in the regular season so far and is 56 goals behind leader Wayne Gretzky. In his career, however, he has already managed to break the 50-goal mark nine times in a season, which has only been done by two other legends, the aforementioned hockey god and Mike Bossy.

Now, in a brief overview, we will recall not only the seasons in which he broke this mark, but also the years when he was the king of goal scorers. Ovechkin did surpass the 50-goal mark on nine occasions, but it didn’t always guarantee him the position of top scorer. He also won the Maurice Richard Trophy, which is awarded to the top scorer of the regular season, on nine occasions, an NHL record.

2005-2006 season – 52 goals

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft broke the 50-goal mark in his inaugural season. In total, Ovechkin totaled 52 hits, which ranked him third among all cannoneers, and he deservedly won the Calder Trophy, which is awarded to the best rookie of the season. Moreover, the NHL saw a rookie break that mark for the first time in a very long time. Of course, he was voted to the All-Star team of the best rookie of the season. However, his performance also earned him a spot on the 1st All-Star team, which is the top five of the season.

2007-2008 season – 65 goals

In his third season, the Russian goal scorer literally exploded. He scored the most goals since the 1995/96 season, when Mario Lemieux managed to reach 69 goals. Since that season, no other player has scored more goals than Ovechkin. Connor McDavid came within one shot of that mark last season and Auston Matthews is on a rampage this season to surpass that mark. He’s currently 13 hits away from doing so, with almost 30 regular season games to go.

This is actually the most successful season of his overseas career. He has collected absolutely every individual award, and he is the first player in league history to do so, as there was no top scorer trophy when Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux ruled the NHL.

For the first and last time, he won the league’s scoring title with 112 points to win the Art Ross Trophy. He was also the regular season’s leading scorer, earning the first Maurice Richard Trophy. He also won the Hart Trophy, the most valuable individual award given to the season’s MVP. In addition, he also won the Ted Lindsay Award, which is similar to the Hart Trophy, but is awarded on a player-by-player basis.

Only Connor McDavid managed to win these four trophies in one season last season. These feats earned him his third nomination to the season’s top five and his second nomination to the All-Star game.

2008-2009 season – 56 goals

Reigned all-time leading scorer for the second time in his career this season and surpassed the 50-goal mark for the third time in his short overseas career. He took the Maurice Richard Award, the Hart Trophy and the Ted Lindsay Trophy for the second time. For these performances, he was nominated to the best five of the season for the fourth time in his career and was nominated to the All-Star game for the third time. In addition, he was named to the season’s top five of the opening decade of this millennium.

2009-2010 season – 50 goals

In this season, he reached exactly 50 goals in the regular season. It was the fourth time in his career that he broke that mark. However, he wasn’t the best goal scorer this time. He finished third in the table of top scorers. Still, for the third time in a row, he received recognition from the players themselves. He won his last Ted Lindsay Award and was also voted into the top five for the fifth consecutive season.

2013-2014 season – 51 goals

He had to wait 4 long seasons to break the 50 goal mark this time. Finally, he scored 51 goals and for the fourth time reigned as the all-time goal scorer. For the third time in his career he was then nominated to the second best five of the season. Moreover, he was the only player in the season who managed to break the 50-goal mark. Second-ranked Correy Perry had just 43 goals.

2014-2015 season – 53 goals

A season later, he broke that mark for the sixth time in his career. For the fifth time, he reigned as the all-time leading scorer, which earned him a spot in the season’s top five for the seventh time in his career and his sixth nomination to the All-Star Game. Once again, he became the only goal scorer to go over 50 goals in a season. This time, he even had a 10-goal lead over runner-up Steven Stamkos.

2015-2016 season – 50 goals

The following season, he was again the only player to break that mark. This time he was competing for the scoring throne with Patrick Kane, who stayed 4 shots back. In the end, he managed to win the shooting race and broke the mythical mark for the seventh time in his career. Of course, he won the Maurice Richard Trophy for the sixth time in his career. For the seventh time in his career, he earned a nomination to the All-Star game. And for the fourth time he was voted into the second best five of the season.

2018-2019 season – 51 goals

Ovechkin had to wait 3 years for another 50 goal season. He eventually won the shootout with Leon Draisatl by a single goal. And won the Maurice Richard Trophy for the eighth time in his career. He also earned his eighth and final top five nomination of the season. And he earned a nomination to the All-Star game for the tenth time in his career.

2021-2022 season – 50 goals

The last time he surpassed this mark was two years ago. He finished as high as fourth in the cannonball table. Auston Matthews reigned as the top goal scorer with 10 more. However, this season Ovechkin tied the NHL’s historical record. Only Russian forward, Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy managed to break the 50-goal mark in a season on nine occasions. He did not win any individual trophies for breaking that mark this time. However, he was not forgotten by the fans and earned his 12th All-Star Game nomination.

Above, we have presented the seasons in which Alexander Ovechkin broke the 50-goal mark nine times in a season, six of which he was the top scorer in that year. Since he reigned as the top scorer in a total of nine seasons, we will present below those seasons when he reigned as the top scorer without having to score 50 goals.

2012-2013 season – 32 goals

This season was shortened to just 48 games as it was affected by the lockout. Still, Ovechkin was the only player to break the 30-goal mark. With a crushing finish, he finally beat Steven Stamkos by 3 shots and won the top scorer trophy for the third time in his career. He was also nominated for the best five of the season for the sixth time in his career and won his third Hart Trophy in 4 years.

2017-2018 season – 49 goals

He missed the mythical 50 goal mark this season by a single shot. However, he surpassed Finland’s Patrik Laine by 4 shots. For the seventh time in his career, he became the best cannonballer in the competition. In addition, he finally achieved team success this season when he led the Capitals to the Stanley Cup. Of course, in the playoffs he was the top scorer with 15 goals and won the Conn Smythe Trophy. This is awarded to the best player in the playoffs.

2019-2020 season – 48 goals

This season was shortened to just 70 regular season games. In the end, Ovechkin became the season’s top scorer for the ninth time in his career, but along with Czech player David Pastrňák. Moreover, both would certainly have broken the 50-goal mark if not for the 12 regular season games. He was nominated to the All-Star game for the 11th time in his career this season. And was once again voted into the top five of the second decade of this millennium.

Source: NHL, Wikipedia