SO..... before you judge...
THIS IS THE BOREDOM THREAD....
Ovi is currently at 698 goals and 8th in ALL TIME goals ever
He will (should) pass Mike Gartner this year who has 708, (if Ovi can manage 11 more goals this year - which would also give him another 50g season).
Ovi should surpass Phil Espisito (717), Marcel Dionne (733), and Brett Hull (741) next year (if Ovi manages 10 more this year and 30+ goals next year) which would put Ovi at #4 on the all time list by end of next season.
THat would leave only Jagr (766), Mr. Hockey (801) and The Great One (894) ahead of Ovi. Ovi will easily surpass Jagr and should surpass Mr Hockey with relative ease in the coming seasons
Ovi will have to work at it to catch Gretzky at 894. I think it's possible but it would require roughly 37-38 goals a year average for 5 more seasons (If Ovi ends this year with 50)
What's more amazing is...go look at the NHL all time goal leaders. Of the top 100 there are only a handful still playing (actually there are 6)...meaning only a handful of Ovi-era players are even in the top 100 and none near his level of goal scoring. Ovi was born in 1985. There is not a single player born in 80's in the top 50 on this list, and only 7 players in the top 100 (51-100)s, and most of those well behind Ovi. Nobody within 50 ranking spots of Ovi.
Ovi is currently 8th with 698. The next closest has 243 fewer goals:
Cindy (#58) with 455
Kovalchuck (65) with 441
Staal (71) with 434
Stamkos (84) with 418 (actually Stamkos was born in 1990 so he's a bit younger)
Malkin (93) with 408
Patrick Marleau was born in 1979, but I'll give him props - he is next highest (to Ovi) of all current players with 561 goals (ranking him at #25). He is 40 and likely this is his last year, and he has played 1708 games - 429 more (roughly 5.25 more seasons) than Ovi.
There are only four players ever with (10 or more) 40 goal seasons...Gretzky (12), Ovi (11), Dionne (10), Lemieux (10) (Gartner (9), Bossy (9)
Most 30 goal seasons: Gartner (17), Ovi (15), Jagr (15), Gretzky (14), Dionne (14)...and I'd expect Ovi will get two more to catch Gartner
Ovi is certainly the best goal scorer of this generation, and probably the best ever with all else considered. Catching Gretzky would certainly cement that.
Despite the year Ovi is having, I do think father time will start to wear on him in coming seasons. I expect him to remain a viable threat, but don't expect he will maintain the 50 goal pace (or even 40 really).
Anyway, GO OVI