Photo by Alena Schwarz
There is one category that Alex Ovechkin dominated during his first six NHL seasons – shots on goal. He led the league each season until last year, when he finished in sixth place. That’s quite a fall for someone who once had a 156-shot lead ahead of the second place guy (2008-9, when he had 528).
Though this season is far from over (relatively speaking), and though he’ll likely never put up the same numbers as he has in the past, Ovechkin is once again gunning for the league lead in shots on goal. With three more in Tuesday’s 6-5 overtime victory against Florida, Ovechkin climbed back into the running for shot king with 52 on the season (though Erik Karlsson simultaneously pulled away from the pack with nine in Ottawa’s 2-0 win against Buffalo).
Even with the Caps being in last place, and even with a slow start himself, it’s good to see Ovechkin still being one of the top players in the league at keeping goaltenders on high alert.
Now if we can only do something about that shooting percentage.
| Stats | |||||||||||||||||
| Year | Team | GP | G | A | Pts | +/- | PIM | Hits | BkS | PPG | PPA | SHG | SHA | GW | SOG | Pct | |
| 2005-06 | WAS | 81 | 52 | 54 | 106 | 2 | 52 | N/A | N/A | 21 | 31 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 425 | .122 | |
| 2006-07 | WAS | 82 | 46 | 46 | 92 | -19 | 52 | N/A | N/A | 16 | 21 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 392 | .117 | |
| 2007-08 | WAS | 82 | 65 | 47 | 112 | 28 | 40 | N/A | N/A | 22 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 446 | .146 | |
| 2008-09 | WAS | 79 | 56 | 54 | 110 | 8 | 72 | N/A | N/A | 19 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 528 | .106 | |
| 2009-10 | WAS | 72 | 50 | 59 | 109 | 45 | 89 | 185 | 20 | 13 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 368 | .136 | |
| 2010-11 | WAS | 79 | 32 | 53 | 85 | 24 | 41 | 241 | 23 | 7 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 367 | .087 | |
| 2011-12 | WAS | 78 | 38 | 27 | 65 | -8 | 26 | 215 | 42 | 13 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 303 | .125 | |
| 2012-13 | WAS | 13 | 5 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 14 | 23 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 52 | .096 | |
| Career | 565 | 343 | 344 | 687 | 76 | 384 | 663 | 89 | 114 | 146 | 4 | 0 | 56 | 2878 | .119 | ||
