For my generation of hockey fans, Wayne Gretzky was “The Great One.” Now we have Alexander Ovechkin who has been given the moniker of “The Great One.” Who really is “The Great One?”
Gretzky retired from the National Hockey League in 1999, with a league record of 894 goals. He also had 1963 assists for a total of 2857 points. Gretzky played 1487 games in a 20-year career in the NHL.
Ovechkin, a left wing for the Washington Capitals, is in his 20th season in the NHL and at this point, he has played 1467 games, 20 fewer games than Gretzky. As of this writing, Ovechkin has 882 goals plus 714 assists for a total of 1596 points.
Right now, much is being made of his quest to break Gretzky’s goal scoring record, and with 25 games left on the regular season schedule, it is likely he will surpass Gretzky in the next few weeks, barring any serious injury.
Ovechkin only needs 12 goals to tie Gretzky and 13 goals to set a new record. If he gets at least one goal every two games, he will achieve this milestone. This past Sunday, he got a hat trick, scoring three goals in the Capitals game against Edmonton, so it’s obviously doable.
Do I want Ovechkin to break Gretzky’s record?
No, not really. To me, Gretzky will always be “The Great One.”
I remember watching him right after the WHA merged with the NHL, and Gretzky, as a rookie with Edmonton in 1979, made a huge splash in the NHL. He scored 51 goals that season. That was in a time when scoring 50-plus goals in a season was considered super-star level.
Much was made by the media of this 19-year-old hockey phenom who was taking the league by storm. Not only did he score a lot of goals, but he also racked up league leading assists. In that 1979-80 season, Gretzky had 86 assists, again super-star numbers.
Also, that season, I was fortunate to get a Wayne Gretzky rookie card in a pack of Topps hockey cards. Talk about a huge investment that later paid off great dividends. If I remember correctly, I sold that card for a couple hundred dollars many years ago, however, today it’s listed at thousands of dollars on eBay.
So, maybe Ovechkin will score more goals than Gretzky, but does that make him a better player?
No. I contend that Gretzky was a much more all-around player than Ovechkin. Just look at his number of assists. Not only does Gretzky currently hold the goals record, but he also holds the assists record with 1963. In second place on the all-time assists list is Ron Francis who retired with 1249, that’s 714 behind Gretzky. Ovechkin isn’t even in the top 50 with his 714 total assists. He is currently at No. 56 but will likely move up a few notches before the end of the season.
This tells me that Gretzky was a good all-around player and good at setting up his teammates, something Ovechkin rarely does. So not only was Gretzky a sharp-shooter goal scorer, but he was also a great playmaker.
Sure, give Ovechkin his due for soon becoming the all-time leading goal scorer, but in my opinion, he’ll never replace Gretzky as “The Great One.”
TULSA BEACON RADIO
Tune in to “Tulsa Beacon Weekend” radio show every week, featuring interviews with local and national level guests, talking about everything from politics to family issues. Because of the weather last week, unfortunately we didn’t get to record a show and have moved those guests to another week. My guest this week will be local political pundit Chris Medlock, examining President Trump’s first 100 days in office. The show airs on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. CST on 970am KCFO.