NEWSLETTER
Happy Friday! We’re in the home stretch of the NHL season which means, in my opinion, the best playoffs in sports is nearly upon us. Auston Matthews and Alex Ovechkin put on a show as they both chase down milestones. Anze Kopitar quietly keeps on impressing. Tom Wilson took another cheap shot. Let’s dive into it all and go around the NHL.
Auston Matthews Chasing 70 Goals
The chase for 70 is still in full pursuit for Auston Matthews. Earlier this week going up against one of the game’s all-time great goal scorers, Matthews put on a show. On Wednesday night, Matthews and Alex Ovechkin put on a show in a 7-3 Maple Leafs win. Matthews scored two goals and dished out three assists. While the Caps got blown out, Ovi still did his thing and scored twice as well.
After his two-goal night, Matthews sits at 57 goals this season. He’s 13 away from 70 goals with 14 games left to play. If the American-born center can pull it off he’ll become the first player since Alexander Mogilny and Teemu Selanne to put up a 70-goal season. Mogilny and Selanne both scored 76 times in 1992-93.
Ovechkin is having a “down year” by his standards at least. But even at age 38 he’s got 23 goals and has a chance to hit 30. As of this writing, The Great 8 sits at 845 career goals – 49 behind Wayne Gretzky for the NHL’s all-time lead. Ovi’s contract still runs for two more seasons after this one, and I have a hard time believing he’d hang up the skates before getting by Gretzky when he’s this close.
Now, it’s still a long way off for Matthews, but if he stays healthy it’s increasingly likely that we’re talking about him having a chance to break the NHL’s All-Time goals record. In his 8th season, through 548 career games, he’s got 356 goals. That’s an average of 0.64 goals per game. Through 8 seasons and 601 games, Ovechkin had 371 goals which was an average of 0.61 goals per game.
Gretzky’s records always used to seem untouchable, and most of them still are, but the fact that we might get to see not only one but two players chase down Gretzky’s goal record so close together is pretty darn cool.
Career Milestone for Anze Kopitar
Anze Kopitar being really good isn’t breaking news to hockey fans, but I do feel like sometimes he’s a little underappreciated. Earlier this week, Kopitar hit 1,200 points for his career and in all likelihood will enter the top 50 of all-time NHL points leaders by season’s end.
It might be due to where he plays, but it’s pretty astounding just how consistent the 34-year-old center has been throughout his career. Just three times he’s finished with fewer than 60 points. One of those seasons was the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign where he had 42 points in 47 games. Another was the COVID-shortened season when he recorded 50 points in 56 games.
It’s also not like Kopitar plays a style that’s easier on the body. The center is a two-time Selke Award winner and plays a tough two-way game. The fact that his body has held up and he’s consistently produced while playing the way he does is incredibly impressive.
It’s wild to think that we saw the Kane & Toews-era Blackhawks battle it out with Kopitar’s Kings over several playoff series, and we could potentially see the Bedard-era Blackhawks in a couple of years go at it with the Kings in the postseason who are still led by Kopitar and Drew Doughty. It’s probably the way he likes it, but Anze Kopitar keeps quietly building on his Hall of Fame career and I think it deserves some recognition as he hits this milestone.
Tom Wilson Offered In-Person Hearing
BREAKING NEWS: Tom Wilson committed an incredibly dirty, suspension-worthy act this week. Consider me SHOCKED. But yeah, yet again Capitals winger Tom Wilson is in the news for a dirty play. This time for his ruthlessly dirty high stick on Noah Gregor of the Maple Leafs as you can see below. Wilson has been offered an in-person hearing by the league which means the suspension can be more than five games.
Wilson received a double-minor for the penalty. If (when) Wilson gets suspended it will be the sixth time in his career he is sidelined by the league, but it would only be his first since 2021. The potential suspension comes at a tough time, too. The Caps are in the midst of a playoff chase. They’re three points behind Detroit for the second Wild Card spot, and they also have two games in hand. They could very well make a run at that Wild Card bid. However, with just 14 games remaining, they’ll have to make a good chunk of that run without Wilson.
