By Jared Clinton, Features Writer
At one time, it seemed
impossible. Later, it became implausible. And then, slowly and steadily,
it transformed from existing somewhere within the realm of possibility
to simply a matter of time. None of that, though, makes it any less
surreal that Alex Ovechkin has blasted his way past Wayne Gretzky to
assume the mantle as the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring king.
When
Gretzky hung up his skates in 1999, he did so in the midst of an
ultra-defensive era. Scoring had plummeted. It made sense, then, that
his career goal total was categorized among his individual feats that
would go unmatched. But Ovechkin’s arrival and lamplighting prowess
begat whispers about a challenge to Gretzky’s throne. Those whispers
grew in strength as ‘The Great Eight’ rose from precocious rookie
sensation to perennial Rocket Richard Trophy favorite. Now, Ovechkin has
cemented himself as the greatest goal-scorer the game has ever seen.
With
Ovechkin overtaking one of the marks formerly considered untouchable –
and in doing so proving that most records really are made to be broken –
the mind starts to wander. Is it only a matter of time before other
significant individual achievements fall? Which feats appear secure but
are perhaps precariously held? And are there any records that remain
unbreakable?
Clock is Ticking
Gretzky held the
goal-scoring crown for 31 years, but that’s still shorter than Doug
Jarvis’ tenure as the NHL’s ironman. Jarvis held the title for nearly 35
years, from October 1987 to January 2022, when Keith Yandle played in
his 965th consecutive game. Yandle’s time as ironman, however, was
short-lived. Within nine months, he was passed by Phil Kessel, who
pushed the mark to 1,064 games. But the durability of this era’s players
makes it seem likely that Kessel won’t hold the top spot for all that
long. Nine of the 14 players to play in 600-plus consecutive games have
done so in the past 11 years, including Brent Burns, the active leader
at 925 consecutive games played and counting.
Staying healthy will
also be important in the pursuit of the single-season power-play goal
record. Tim Kerr holds the mark, having potted an astounding 34 PP goals
in 1985-86, but the NHL is currently in a special-teams resurgence.
This season was the fourth in a row in which NHL power plays operated at
an average of 20.5 percent or higher. The last stretch of four such
seasons spanned from 1986-87 to 1989-1990. And the current power-play
excellence has given rise to some Kerr challengers. Leon Draisaitl
notched 32 PP goals in 2022-23. Sam Reinhart posted 27 last season. If
scoring with the man advantage continues to boom, Kerr’s record stands
to fall.
If the Stars Align
Given that
league-wide scoring is holding at levels commensurate with the first
post-lockout campaign and that five of the highest-scoring individual
scoring seasons of the past 20 years have come since 2022-23, there is a
case to be made that we’re in an era of big-time production. Gretzky’s
single-season scoring record – 215 points in 1985-86 – isn’t in danger,
but could a rearguard set a new record for single-season points by a
defenseman?
For
more than 50 years, Bobby Orr has held the record, with his 139-point
season in 1970-71 sitting atop the list. But the current generation of
blueliners is redefining what it means to produce from the back end. To
wit, we are only two years removed from Erik Karlsson’s 101-point
season, which saw him become the first defenseman since Brian Leetch in
1991-92 to reach the 100-point plateau. That makes Karlsson one of four
defensemen to register 90 points in the post-lockout era, all of whom
have done so in the past four seasons.
We’re also only beginning
to see Cale Makar and Quinn Hughes enter their primes. This season,
Makar hit 90 points for the second straight year. Hughes battled injury
but scored at nearly a 95-point pace. And the players they’re inspiring
could hound after Orr’s mark down the line. Lane Hutson became the first
rookie defenseman since Nicklas Lidstrom in 1991-92 to score 60 points
in a season. The defensemen who emerge in the coming years could build
on the foundations laid by Makar and Hughes.
But even in an era of
increased scoring, a battery of goaltending records could fall at a
moment’s notice. Chief among those is the longest shutout streak.
While
the record is six straight shutouts, held by Alec Connell, it’s worth
noting that that run came during the 1927-28 season – when the forward
pass was permitted in only the defensive and neutral zones. Thus, some
acknowledge Brian Boucher’s five straight shutouts in 2003-04 as the
modern achievement. And while no one since Boucher has posted four
consecutive shutouts, there are seven instances in the past decade in
which a goaltender has pieced together a three-shutout run, most
recently Andrei Vasilevskiy and Semyon Varlamov in 2020-21.
A
shutout streak could pair well, too, with the record for single-season
saves. Gump Worsley is in the top spot with a 2,376-save season, but
it’s not unrealistic for a present-day keeper to mount a challenge.
Worsley accumulated his total over 70 games, which is greater than but
not far from the workloads that netminders play these days. Twice in the
post-lockout NHL has Worsley been threatened – by Roberto Luongo in
2005-06 (2,275 saves in 75 games) and Cam Ward in 2010-11 (2,191 saves
in 74 games). More recently, Frederik Andersen posted 2,029 saves in 66
games during the 2017-18 season.
And how about the single-season
win total? In 2015-16, Braden Holtby tied Martin Brodeur’s
then-nine-year-old record of 48 wins – and Holtby did so despite playing
in 12 fewer games than Brodeur. Further fuelling speculation the mark
could fall? Connor Hellebuyck won 47 of his 63 games this season. It
proves that a workhorse keeper on a title contender can mount a chase.
It
would take something truly special, though, for anyone to chase down
Brodeur for the top spot on the all-time wins list. Given his
consistency and sturdiness, Hellebuyck might have the best chance – he’s
at 322 victories. However, he’d have to average nearly 40 wins per
season for another decade. The same can be said for Vasilevskiy,
who – with the pending retirement of Marc-Andre Fleury and his career
575 wins – is third among active keepers. Vasilevskiy would have to
maintain a similar 40-win clip until he called it a career to reach the
record. The conditions would have to be perfect for Hellebuyck,
Vasilevskiy or any up-and-comer to surpass Brodeur.
The Untouchables
Which brings us to those that will stand the test of time.
While
The Great One may have lost one of his most notable records, he still
has a stranglehold on a great many of the NHL’s single-season and career
bests – as well as one of the most formidable in league history: 50
goals in 39 games. The closest modern challengers have been Auston
Matthews and Connor McDavid, who have recorded 33 goals in 39 games.
Perhaps
more than his goal-scoring feats, though, Gretzky’s work as a set-up
man makes for the most unattainable marks. For instance, Gretzky is atop
the all-time assists ledger (1,963) by more than 700, and he’s 900
ahead of any active player. Combine that with his goal total and it’s
unfathomable that anyone in this lifetime or the next will be able to
match Gretzky’s 2,857 career points. That’s the equivalent of 19
consecutive 150-point campaigns. Only once since the turn of the
millennium – McDavid in 2022-23 – has a player posted even one 150-point
season.
And while Gretzky’s career point total is among the NHL’s
most unmatchable, that record still pales in comparison to what is
arguably the most awe-inspiring record in the sport: Glenn Hall’s mark
for most consecutive complete games by a goaltender.
From Oct. 6,
1955, through to Nov. 4, 1962, Hall played every possible minute in the
blue paint, 502 consecutive games. Forget the single-season games-played
mark (Grant Fuhr’s 79 games) or the all-time total (Brodeur’s 1,266
contests) it’s Hall’s streak that is a truly breathtaking feat. What we
know about the physical toll of the goaltending position on the body
makes it not unlikely, not implausible, but absolutely, unequivocally
impossible anyone will ever pry that record from Hall.
This article
appeared in our 2025 Top-100 NHLers issue. This issue focuses on the 100 best players currently in the NHL, with the Avalanche's Nathan MacKinnon sitting atop the list. We also include features on Alex Ovechkin finally beating Wayne Gretzky's goal-scoring record, and former CFL running back Andrew Harris' switch to semi-professional hockey. In
addition, we provide a PWHL playoff preview as the regular season nears its end.
You can get it in print for free when you subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/Free today. All subscriptions include complete access to more than 76 years of articles at The Hockey News Archive.
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