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2015-16 Rink Wrap: Alex Ovechkin

Japers’ Rink Player Card (click for a hi-res version, and a glossary of terms used in this post can be found here; data via NHL.com, war-on-ice.com, General Fanager and Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com):

Ovechkin’s Season, Game-by-Game (via HockeyViz, explained here):

Ovechkin’s HERO Chart (via Own The Puck):

Ovechkin and His Linemates:

Ovechkin’s 5v5 Teammates and Competition (via HockeyViz, explained here):

Ovechkin’s 5v5 Usage:

Ovechkin’s With-or-Without You (via HockeyViz, explained here):

Ovechkin’s Rolling Shot-Attempt (Corsi) -For Percentage:

Ovechkin’s Last Nine Seasons (via Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com):

Key Stat: Alex Ovechkin led the league in five-on-five goals with 27. The last time he did that was back in 2008-09, when he also had 27 markers at fives.

Interesting Stat: Including the playoffs, Ovechkin had three different instances during which he recorded 11 goals without notching an assist.

The Good: Well, for starters, Ovechkin won his sixth career Rocket Richard trophy, which is awarded to the player who scores the most goals in a season, and his fourth consecutive such honor. Mentioned above is the fact that Ovechkin lead the league in 5v5 scoring, which was a driving factor in what was something of a rennaissance season for the Great Eight (in terms of how moreso than the what), but he also led the NHL in power play goals, and became the first player in NHL history to have done that four seasons in a row.

Alex scored his 500th career goal, and then another 25 after that, putting him in position to break into the NHL’s top 25 goal scorers of all-time next season, when he’s only 31. In 2016 his eight game-winning goals were tied for fourth most in the NHL, and his 31 even strength goals were the most he’s tallied since he was 24 years old. Oh, and by the way, Alex put 12 points up on the board in 12 playoff games, as he continues to be one of the most reliable playoff producers of his era.

To no one’s surprise, he again led the NHL in shots (aggregate and 5v5), was 2nd to only Brent Burns in 5v5 shot attempts, and led the league in shot attempts as a rate metric. He also boasted the Capitals’ best relative possession numbers, had the squad’s 2nd highest on ice CF60, and for the 2nd year in a row had a personal CF% above 53%.

At age 30, The Great Eight is still playing elite hockey, and giving his organization great value as he gears up for the ninth year of his massive thirteen year contract.

The Bad: Despite an excellent offensive season in aggregate, Ovi’s assist numbers were certainly below par. Ovechkin only picked up 13 assists at 5v5 on the campaign, tied for his second lowest such output of his career. Worse yet, only two of those assists were primary assists, meaning 483 NHL players had more primary assists than Ovechkin in 2015-2016.

The only teammate of Ovechkin who had fewer primary assists five-on-five was Michael Latta, who had one, and his total output was matched by Mike Richards and Brooks Orpik, who combined played only one more game than Ovechkin.

The GIF/Video:

Alex got this season off to a wail of a start with this beauty, and he never looked back.

The Comic:

The Vote: Rate Ovechkin below on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best) based on his performance relative to his potential and your expectations for the season – if he had the best year you could have imagined him having, give him a 10; if he more or less played as you expected he would, give him a 5 or a 6; if he had the worst year you could have imagined him having, give him a 1.

The Discussion: How much longer can hockey fans in the district expect to see Ovechkin dominate? Do his dwindling assist numbers evince a gap in his offensive game? Does his resurgent goal-scoring numbers at even-strength mean that he’s stronger than ever? What would it take for you to give him a “10” next year?

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