Capitals' Alex Ovechkin is finally slowing down

Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin is the best goal scorer of his era and arguably the best to ever play in the NHL. After nearly two decades there is one opponent that is finally starting to slow him down, and it is not one that he sees on the ice. It is Father Time. 

Even as Ovechkin started to get into his late 30s in recent seasons he never showed any signs of slowing down offensively. Just a season ago he scored 42 goals in his age-37 season, which came one year after he became the oldest player (36) to ever score 50 goals in a season.

That continued dominance and pace saw him rapidly climb the NHL's all-time goal leaderboard and brought him up to the No. 2 spot behind only Wayne Gretzky. He entered the 2023-24 season just 72 goals behind Gretzky's record of 894 and it seemed to only be a matter of when, and not if, he would take over the top spot.

Through the first quarter of the 2023-24 season, Ovechkin has not only struggled to score goals, he is off to what is by far the worst start of his career. Entering play on Friday Ovechkin has just five goals in the Capitals' first 26 games, while also looking like a player that is actually starting to show his age in the league. His shooting percentage is at an all-time low, his shots-on-goal rate has plummeted to the lowest mark of his career (3.6 per game, down from his 4.70 career average) and he just looks slower. 

His five goals are the lowest total he has ever had through 26 games in a season and only the second time he has had fewer than 10 goals at this point in the season. Over the first 18 years of his career, he averaged 15 total goals, five power-play goals and 120 shots on goal through his first 26 games. This season it is just five total goals, one power-play goal and only 94 shots on goal. 

The good news for the Capitals is his slow start has not kept them from remaining competitive in the Eastern Conference. The bad news for Ovechkin is that for the first time, it is actually calling into question whether or not he can catch Gretzky. As of Friday, he is 67 goals away from tying him and 68 from passing him. If he can get back to the same level we saw from him a season ago then he would eventually pass Gretzky sometime next season. But that is a huge "if" at this point and at his current rate he might not have enough games or seasons in the NHL to get across the finish line.