Alex Ovechkin's Goal Scoring Record Chase

[Rhett44]

Ovechkin is so good.

[SutterBrother]

Chris Biotti, Elkyiv, Gemnoble, Hoop27, minnow, New User, Reggie Dunlop, VANFLAMESFAN, You Need a Thneed

What's wrong with you guys?

[FanIn80]

The fickle and cruel hockey gods might see fit for Gr8 to finish the season one shy of tying the record now. As genuinely awesome as it was for him to give that one to Protas, it does feel a bit fate-tempting.

Thankfully, I am a man of logic and science who doesn't believe in all that invisible-string-pulling hooha... this is all just coming from a friend of mine. Like, I'm personally not worried at all. Like, zero worries. As long as Ovie keeps stepping over every second blueline backwards and only shooting pucks that have the team logo facing up during warmups, everything will be fine. Scientifically, that is.

[Jason14h]

The NHL may prefer he gets the record next year vs right before the playoffs . Gives them something to hype up before next season

[Elkyiv]

Originally Posted by SutterBrother

Chris Biotti, Elkyiv, Gemnoble, Hoop27, minnow, New User, Reggie Dunlop, VANFLAMESFAN, You Need a Thneed

What's wrong with you guys?

What does this mean?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

The NHL may prefer he gets the record next year vs right before the playoffs . Gives them something to hype up before next season

I dont know about that...if he doesnt bang it out this year? He's not going to get it next year right before the playoffs, he'll get it before November is out.

Like I said earlier, if he doesnt get it this year, which I was initially skeptical about until he engaged 'God Mode' then next year is going to be a lay-up and he's going to pad the hell out of that stat.

[Party Elephant]

Originally Posted by Locke

I dont know about that...if he doesnt bang it out this year? He's not going to get it next year right before the playoffs, he'll get it before November is out.



Like I said earlier, if he doesnt get it this year, which I was initially skeptical about until he engaged 'God Mode' then next year is going to be a lay-up and he's going to pad the hell out of that stat.

Like Hank Aaron in the 70s with fewer death threats

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Party Elephant

Like Hank Aaron in the 70s with fewer death threats

I'll have to take your word for it because I have no idea what that means.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Elkyiv

What does this mean?

I means that some of us voted that he wont break the record early on this season.

which was probably still a reasonable guess at that point, based on what we saw with his very slow start last season, and now being a year older.

He proved us wrong though.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Elkyiv

What does this mean?

You’re one of the nine people who voted that Ovie won’t break the record at all.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

I means that some of us voted that he wont break the record early on this season.

which was probably still a reasonable guess at that point, based on what we saw with his very slow start last season, and now being a year older.

He proved us wrong though.

No the options are this season, next season, not at all.

Those are the 9 people who voted not at all.

[dino7c]

When was the poll? To be fair there was a time he looked really bad

[activeStick]

Well (and I'm as big an OV fan as any other), the guy is 39 years old and the Caps had a terrible season the year before and looked like they were going to be completely done, so it wasn't too crazy of a view that he'd be challenged to break the record. Was it last year or year before that they were the lowest scoring team in the NHL?

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

No the options are this season, next season, not at all.

Those are the 9 people who voted not at all.

Yes, that's what I said.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

In fairness to those nine people, last season in his first 43 games (not a small sample size), Ovechkin had 8 goals. That's 0.18 goals per game.

Keep in mind, he's a year older. It's not out of the realm of possibility for someone to think hey, maybe at 39 he'll be more of that player we saw in the first half of last season (0.18 goals per game) versus the last half of last season (0.63 goals per game).

At the start of this season, he had 853 goals so he was 41 goals away from tying it. If he went back to playing like he did at the start of last season or worse (he's 39, remember) it would have taken him 227 games to tie the record.

Instead, he is doing BETTER than he did in the back half of last season at 0.67 goals per game. It's incredible, really.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

In fairness to those nine people, last season in his first 43 games (not a small sample size), Ovechkin had 8 goals. That's 0.18 goals per game.

Keep in mind, he's a year older. It's not out of the realm of possibility for someone to think hey, maybe at 39 he'll be more of that player we saw in the first half of last season (0.18 goals per game) versus the last half of last season (0.63 goals per game).

At the start of this season, he had 853 goals so he was 41 goals away from tying it. If he went back to playing like he did at the start of last season or worse (he's 39, remember) it would have taken him 227 games to tie the record.

Instead, he is doing BETTER than he did in the back half of last season at 0.67 goals per game. It's incredible, really.

He's like an old blood hound, and someone just sat a big fat juicy steak out on the porch.

[lazypucker]

If you believe Ovi couldn't break the record because of legit reasons (like he is too old, the game has past him by, etc.), I am ok with it.

But I have a problem with people when they are being vindictive - saying things like Ovi should not be allowed to play because he is Russian and automatically he is evil by default, Ovi is buddy with Putin therefore I hate him as well, etc. These are just lame excuses.

We need to separate the politics (most of them are one-sided view anyways) from the truly great achivement this athlete is about to accomplish.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

If you believe Ovi couldn't break the record because of legit reasons (like he is too old, the game has past him by, etc.), I am ok with it.

But I have a problem with people when they are being vindictive - saying things like Ovi should not be allowed to play because he is Russian and automatically he is evil by default, Ovi is buddy with Putin therefore I hate him as well, etc. These are just lame excuses.

We need to separate the politics (most of them are one-sided view anyways) from the truly great achivement this athlete is about to accomplish.

We absolutely do not need to separate politics from the player. Some people choose to, but no one is obligated to.

I have a huge problem with his affinity for Putin. Doesn't change his accomplishments on the ice (unless of course he is doping).

[Elkyiv]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

Ovi is buddy with Putin therefore I hate him as well, etc. These are just lame excuses.

We need to separate the politics

It is not a lame excuse. Athletes do and should suffer a reputational cost for their ideology. If we praise players who contribute a net positive to their community, we can criticize and judge them for their political leanings and affiliations too.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Pellanor

This is a great quest, thanks for asking. Given the current political climate I think it's worth examining what we do when something we love is created by somebody we consider to be a bad person.

Ultimately it's whatever lets you sleep at night. If you can separate sports / entertainment from politics, great, just do that. Some might argue that being able to do so comes from a place of privilege, that you can only ignore the bad things the artist does because they don't affect you. That is true to a certain extent, it's much easier to ignore support for Putin here than in Ukraine. Still we all deserve entertainment and escapism, so if somebody in Ukraine loves hockey and wants to see the all time scoring record broken, who are we to judge them? And if we're not judging them, why should we judge you?

Still, many people want to do more than that. Here's some ways they do so.

Raising Awareness / Slactivism / Virtue Signaling
What you call this depends on your perspective, but the basic idea is just talking about the issue. Saying things like "No matter what you think about Ovechkin's support of Putin, this goal is amazing!", or even asking the question you did. Letting people know about the problems surrounding the individual in question. Great when it sparks discussion like this, but can also feel draining when every conversation around somebody comes with caveats. Also you might get accused of grand standing if all you do is talk, and never back it up with action, or performative activism if you only talk about the latest trends. Still, introducing new people to an issue they weren't aware of is valuable, jut watch out for echo chambers.

Ethical Consumption / Boycotting / Canceling
Once again, lots of different terms for overlapping ideas. This is voting with your wallet, and (when combined with the above) encouraging others to do the same. It comes from the feeling that you cannot justify giving your money to somebody you consider bad. This can be as simple as refusing to purchase a Ovechkin jersey, or doing business with companies that sponsor him. Maybe you stop watching Capitals games in hopes of lowering advertising value. You can even try to stop giving the NHL any money, canceling all your subscriptions and TV packages, and avoiding all sports bars that show the game, and stop purchasing from any of their sponsors for so long as they continue to employee him or other bad individuals (good luck with that). Unfortunately you as an individual are a drop in the bucket, and any choices you make as an individual does not affect their bottom line.

A couple extra notes on this topic. First, Piracy. A lot of people will vote with their wallet by deciding to still consume the media of people they dislike, but pirate it instead of pay for it. This does feel better, but can often be just as harmful. If you have an author you dislike because of how they treat a marginalized community, don't pay for their work, but still participate in their fandom and and community, to those marginalized individuals you still appear to be supporting that author. It is better to spend your money on works created by members of that community, and your time promoting them. Secondly, this form of thinking is inherently capitalist in nature, tying your value to what people are willing to pay you, and giving value to anything you spend money on. So ethical consumption may not matter to individuals and communities who do not share that form of thinking.

Actual Activism
This is spending time taking actions to counteract whatever bad the individual is doing. This could be supporting Ukraine refugees, organizing protests, getting involved in politics, or smaller things like calling your representatives, or organizing a book club. The best way to counteract bad in the world is to do good. We might not have the reach or scope of the problematic artists we oppose, but there are a lot more of us.

Focusing on a Different Issue
There are too many bad people doing too many bad things out there to worry about all of them. It's best to focus on a few issues rather than try to handle everything. If you're busy helping house the homeless, or supporting those losing their rights under a changing government, or making sure students aren't going hungry, you don't have to spend energy worrying about Ovechkin. In fact it's better not to. We can't have everybody who is trying to make the world a better place burn out because they've spread themselves too thin trying to fix too many problems.


So how do you celebrate Ovechkin so much when he's such a strong Putin advocate? That's up to you.

For me, I enjoy him as a hockey player and the entertainment of the goal race. I will celebrate when he beats Gretzky's record because it is a great achievement, and Edmonton is No Good. What I will not do is support his political views, share them or give them a platform. Generally I feel that Ukraine has broad global support, and there is no need for me to spend my energy to further that. Right now I'm focusing on broadening my views and the views of those I interact with through sharing well researched articles from researchers and independent journalists on topics of AI, Trans Health and Gaza. I wish I had the time and energy to do more, but have my own mental health and the health of my partner to prioritize at the moment.

I hope this didn't get too political for the hockey discussion. I tried to keep it unbiased, but am very left leaning myself (if the capitalism comment didn't give it away).

Did AI write that?