Gretzky's First Four Years vs. Ovechkin's

Tonight's Capitals game was significant, not just because Ovechkin scored, but because it was Ovechkin's 319th game played. This total matches Gretzky's total through his first four years. At the end of the 1982-83 season Gretzky had scored 269 career goals in 319 games.

It's difficult to find something that references the date that season ended. For this article's sake we'll use April 1, 1983

At his current '08-'09 GPG average of .730, Ovechkin will end his fourth year in the NHL with 58 goals giving him 221 for his career. That will place him 48 goals behind The Great One.

It is important to factor age into the debate. At the end of the 1982-83 season Wayne Gretzky was 22 years, 2 months and 5 days old. At the close of the 2008-09 NHL season on April 11th, 2009 Alexander Ovechkin will be 23 years, 6 months and 25 days of age. That will give Gretzky 1 year, 4 months and 20 days on Mr. Ovechkin through 4 NHL seasons. Not only does Ovechkin have to over come Gretzky's 48 goal lead but if he plays to around the same age as The Great One (appox. 38 years, 3 months in April 1999) he'll obviously have to do it in less time. However in the interest of full disclouse Gretzky only tallied 9 goals in his final season at age 37/38. This leaves room for Ovechkin to make up some of the difference in his final season, assuming for the sake of this arguement he only plays until he is 38.

Whether or not we should be comparing Ovechkin's goals to Gretzky's by games or age is a subject of debate we intend to take up in the future.