(Caps Outsider)
Ten games often serves as a good sample size for how a player will perform throughout the entire season, particularly a top-liner. With 8 goals, 6 assists and 14 points, Ovechkin is already off to the third best start of his career. Let’s look at some trends.
His slowest start to a season came in 2012-13, where he only had 2 goals and 3 assists through 10 games. That season, which was also shortened because of the labor lockout, he led the league in goals and also won MVP. He also only started off with 2 goals in 10 games in 2008-09 but ended up leading the league with 56.
Ovechkin’s fastest start through 10 games, in terms of points, came in 2009-10, when he had 17, but he missed winning a Rocket Richard trophy by one goal. His highest goal output through ten games was in 2013-14, and again last season, with 10. His fastest start through two games came last year, when he had 7 goals, and 9 in the first 5.
In Ovechkin’s (arguably) two worst seasons – when he scored a career low 32 goals in 2010-11, and career low 65-points in 2011-12 (excluding the lockout-shortened season), he still started fine, with 5 goals and 5 assists in the first ten games.
Oddly enough, in his 65-goal season, he started with only six goals, a total he started with, at minimum, eight times in his career.
Bottom line – Ovechkin is hardly slowing down, even at the age of 33.
| Season | Through 10 games | Season totals |
| 2005-06 | 6 goals, 5 assists, 11 points | 52 goals, 54 assists, 106 points |
| 2006-07 | 6 goals, 4 assists, 10 points | 46 goals, 46 assists, 92 points |
| 2007-08 | 6 goals, 7 assists, 13 points | 65* goals, 47 assists, 112* points |
| 2008-09 | 2 goals, 6 assists, 8 points | 56* goals, 54 assists, 110 points |
| 2009-10 | 9 goals, 8 assists, 17 points | 50 goals, 59 assists, 109 points |
| 2010-11 | 5 goals, 5 assists, 10 points | 32 goals, 53 assists, 85 points |
| 2011-12 | 5 goals, 5 assists, 10 points | 38 goals, 27 assists, 65 points |
| 2012-13 | 2 goals, 3 assists, 5 points | 32* goals, 24 assists, 56 points |
| 2013-14 | 10 goals, 5 assists, 15 points | 51* goals, 28 assists, 79 points |
| 2014-15 | 5 goals, 2 assists, 7 points | 53* goals, 28 assists, 81 points |
| 2015-16 | 6 goals, 7 assists, 13 points | 50* goals, 21 assists, 71 points |
| 2016-17 | 6 goals, 3 assists, 9 points | 33 goals, 36 assists, 69 points |
| 2017-18 | 10 goals, 2 assists, 12 points | 49* goals, 38 assists, 87 points |
| 2018-19 | 8 goals, 6 assists, 14 points | ? |
* led the league
