Ovechkin without "Richard" and the record holder of the Whims. What did the Russians show in the NHL

Alexander Ovechkin scored 50 or more goals in the regular season for the ninth time. This is a repeat of the NHL record, which the captain of "Washington" shares with Canadians Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy.

The Russian striker with 50 goals became the highest-scoring hockey player in NHL history at the age of 36 or more in one regular season. The previous best figure belonged to the Finn Teemu Selanna - 48 goals in the 2006/07 season.

However, the main sniper prize - "Maurice Richard Trophy" - Ovechkin did not submit for the second year in a row. It, like a year ago, was won by Auston Matthews, who scored 60 goals. For the 24-year-old American from Toronto, this is the second Richard. Ovechkin has nine.

With 50 goals, Ovechkin became the fourth regular season sniper and the best among his compatriots. Ovechkin did not receive the last title only three times - in 2012, 2017 and 2021, when he was inferior to Evgeni Malkin, Nikita Kucherov and Kirill Kaprizov. In 2006, Ovechkin shared first place in goals among Russians with Ilya Kovalchuk.

In total, Ovechkin scored 780 goals in the NHL. This is the third indicator. Canadians Gordie Howe (801) and Gretzky (894) are ahead.

Kaprizov started the championship not in the best way - zero goals and six assists in the first eight matches. There were rumors across the ocean that Minnesota, which gave the Russian a 5-year contract worth $45 million in the offseason, overpaid.

But in the end, Kaprizov became the first player in Minnesota history to break 100 points in a single regular season. Together with him, the team made the playoffs for the second year in a row, and without him, they did not qualify for the Stanley Cup for two years.

Kaprizov is the most productive among Russians according to the results of the last regular season. Only he was able to overcome the mark of 100 points - 47 goals plus 61 assists. With 108 points, he was fifth on the NHL's top scorer list.

Before Kaprizov, only six Russian hockey players scored 100 points in one regular season - Ovechkin (four times), Malkin (three times), Pavel Bure, Alexander Mogilny, Sergey Fedorov and Nikita Kucherov (all twice).

Kaprizov took the title of the most productive Russian hockey player from Artemy Panarin, who scored the most points among his compatriots in the previous two seasons.

However, in the last regular season, Panarin achieved an excellent result - 96 (22 + 74) points. This is the best result in my career. And, most importantly, the Rangers made it to the playoffs for the first time since signing Panarin in 2019 with a seven-year contract with an average annual salary of $11.64 million, which made him the most expensive NHL player after Canadian Conor McDavid ($12.5 million per year) .

Vladimir Tarasenko missed most of the previous two seasons due to injury. In the last championship, he returned to a high level. The St. Louis forward set a personal best in points (82) and assists (48).

Tarasenko became the team's top scorer, fourth in scoring among Russians, and helped St. Louis to break into the playoffs.

The winners of the previous two seasons, Tampa Bay ran the regular season without brilliance, but at a solid level, advancing to the playoffs from fifth place in the Eastern Conference without any problems.

The Russians were habitually the leaders of the Lightning. Goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevsky played 63 matches out of 82. He ranked ninth among all league goaltenders in goals per game average (2.49) and 12th in save percentage (91.6).

Vasilevsky also became the most winning goaltender along with Sergei Bobrovsky, who helped Florida become the winner of the regular season for the first time in history. Russian goalkeepers won 39 matches each.

Defender Mikhail Sergachev repeated the best result in his career in terms of the number of assists - 31.

Striker Nikita Kucherov missed half of the regular season due to injury, so he could not claim victory in the race of top scorers. Nevertheless, the Russian was able to earn 69 (25+44) points. On average, Kucherov scored 1.47 points per game. This is the best figure among the Russians and the second after McDavid (1.54) in the entire NHL.

Tampa made the playoffs and will compete for a third consecutive Stanley Cup victory.

Evgeni Malkin is injured for the second season. In the current championship, he first appeared on the ice only on January 12, which did not prevent him from scoring an average of 42 (20 + 22) points per match in 41 games.

The Russian scored at least 20 goals in a season for the 13th time. Among the current players in this indicator, he is second only to Ovechkin (17), Patrick Kane (Chicago, 14) and Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh, 14).

However, the main thing for the striker this season is yet to come. Pittsburgh made the playoffs, and Malkin got the opportunity to win a fourth Stanley Cup. No Russian hockey player has yet achieved such a result. In addition to Malkin, Igor Larionov, Sergey Fedorov and Sergey Brylin won the trophy three times.

The best Russian goalkeeper was Igor Shesterkin, who spends his second season as the main goalkeeper of the Rangers. According to the results of the last regular season, he was recognized as the most valuable player of the team.

Shesterkin led the entire NHL in conceding average (2.07) and save percentage (93.5). As noted on the official website of the NHL, he is the main contender for the prize for the best goaltender "Vezina Trophy".

Before Shesterkin, among the Russians, Vezina was owned by Sergey Bobrovsky (2013, 2017) and Vasilevsky (2019).

Another, although less obvious than Shesterkin, contender for Vezina is Ilya Sorokin. Last season, he made his debut in the NHL, signed a new three-year contract for $12 million before this season, and during the championship ousted the experienced Semyon Varlamov from the main team.

Sorokin is the second NHL goaltender in percentage of saved shots (92.5) and fourth in the number of goals conceded per game (2.40).

Despite the reliable game of the goalkeeper, the Islanders did not solve the main problem for the season - the team will not play in the playoffs.