Washington Capitals Captain Alex Ovechkin broke the NHL scoring record on Sunday, April 6, a record that had been held since 1994. A debate has been sparked in the sports world comparing the difficulty of Ovechkin’s achievement to the accomplishment of LeBron James breaking the NBA scoring record in 2023.
The comparison can be tough because they are two completely different sports and the idea of scoring itself becomes different across the two sports. A couple of features of the sports themselves help create differences in the comparison made between “King” James and the “Great 8.”
Point Differential and Goalies
For hockey, each goal is only worth one point and players have to put the puck past a goalie who covers the entirety of the net. Basketball has the same number of players on the court but lacks an actual goalie as a buffer between scoring opportunities. Basketball also offers different values of points scored: a foul shot (1), a normal basket (2) and a three-pointer (3). There is even an opportunity in basketball for a four-point play with a three-pointer and a foul committed by the defense.
This differential in scoring could be a factor in why James broke the NBA scoring record in 150 games fewer than Ovechkin did. Point differential is one aspect that may tip the scale in favor of Ovechkin, along with the addition of a goalie, but there are other aspects that could open up this debate even more.
Physicality and Fatigue
Both James and Ovechkin have played in their leagues for 20 years or more, with Ovechkin entering in 2005 and James entering in 2003. Longevity is not just the amount of time spent in the league though, as both sports contain different levels of physicality and fatigue after a certain number of years. When James entered the league, the NBA was on the back end of the hard-core physicality that had been present in the ‘90s.
Throughout the 2020s, the NBA has seen an average of 19.5 fouls per game, compared to 22.7 in the ‘90s. It is not that the NBA is calling less fouls, but that players have drifted away from being physical and causing contact to happen, increasing the longevity of the league. It is also important to look at “load management” in the NBA, where NBA players are encouraged to take games off to avoid injury and fatigue throughout the season.
Now looking toward the NHL, it is also important to note that the physicality and toughness has also decreased since Ovechkin entered the league. Much like the NBA, the game has become safer and more fast-paced than it ever was. While the sport encourages physicality and hitting, the level and consistency of the physicality has dropped significantly over the last decade. Ovechkin is fourth in hits all time in the NHL, despite the decrease in hitting and collisions the NHL sees these days. Although the debate is focused on the scoring records, it is important to account for the state of the leagues today compared to when the records were initially set as well as how hard it would have been for both players to break the records in leagues that lack physicality.
Longevity
The longevity of both players relates to the topic discussed above and is an integral part in comparing the two accolades. James only has two seasons up on Ovechkin but has a significant number of games missed due to injury compared to the Great 8. Over his career, Ovechkin missed 37 games due to injury. In only the last seven years, James has missed 71 due to either injury or rest (load management), and in the 15 years before 2018, he also missed 71 games for the same reasons. While this may make Ovechkin look tougher, it does show that James missed more games and still broke the record in fewer games than Ovechkin did. Both players are considered elderly in their respective sports and in their old age both broke the scoring records. Ovechkin has missed far fewer games for injury reasons, but James was still able to break the record more quickly.
Teams and Help
The last aspect to view in this debate is the teams that both players played for and the amount of support that the teams gave each other. Ovechkin has played for one team his entire career and has had a medium level of help and talented teammates throughout his career. The singular team makes it harder to have new surrounding players who can help assist the goals that Ovechkin has scored. One player in particular, Nicklas Backstrom, was Ovechkin’s partner in crime for some time and assisted on 279 of his 895 goals in the league (30 percent). The Great 8 has had a few other skilled teammates throughout his career, but none compare to the level of talent that James has had with him throughout his long career. James has played for three different teams in his career and played for the Cavaliers in two different periods of his career. The King has played with a number of league stars and possible Hall of Famers, including Kyrie Irving, Anthony Davis, Chris Bosh, Dwane Wade, Kevin Love and Ray Allen. All of those guys are considered “greats,” and for one team or another aided James in scoring points throughout his career. James has played for several teams with significant talent around him while Ovechkin played for a singular team with a weaker supporting cast.
Fans of each sport or league can decide for themselves which accolade is better and that will mostly depend on which sport a fan favors. Based on each player’s longevity, supporting cast and their sports’ differences, the clear favorite is Alexander Ovechkin. Both players will continue to play on late in their careers, and continue to raise the bar for whoever will break the record next. It is the beginning of a new era as two records held for 30 years or more have been broken and the new wave of players looking to break them will have to fill some big shoes.
Jacob Enscoe can be contacted at
jenscoe@kscequinox.com
