Do you remember Alex Ovechkin’s down years?
I mean, “down” is a relative term, but six seasons into his NHL career — with two Rocket Richard Trophies and a pair of MVPs already on his resume — Ovie notched 33 goals in 78 games during the 2010-11 campaign. The next season he went out and potted 38 in the same amount of contests.
Those are totals 90 per cent of the league would kill for and, to be fair, only four guys in the NHL over that two-season span scored more goals than Ovechkin. But for a guy who’d netted 50-plus goals four times — and never fewer than 46 — prior to that, it was still a bit jarring to see.
The dip wound up being nothing more than a blip, as Ovechkin came back during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign to claim his third Rocket Richard and Hart Trophies at age 27. In the 10 years since then, Ovechkin has led the league in goals six more times and scored fewer than 40 in a full campaign just once.
That’s why it’s so hard to process him — even at 38 years old — sitting on two goals through 12 outings this year.
Ovechkin’s shooting percentage is all the way down to 4.2 per cent right now, basically 10 points lower than where it typically lives.
As with all players we’re about to list, we expect Ovechkin to start resembling himself at some point, which will in turn send us all scrambling for our calculators to sketch out when he could yet become the NHL’s all-time goal king. At the moment, he sits 70 goals back of Wayne Gretzky’s 894.
Here’s hoping that chase resumes in a meaningful way very soon. In the meantime, let’s examine some other high-profile players — with annual cap hits of at least $6 million — who’ve not exactly had the time of their lives through a dozen games or so of the 2023-24 campaign.
Johnny Gaudreau, Columbus Blue Jackets
Everyone was happy giving Gaudreau a pass for meek production last year. Blue Jackets supporters were simply thrilled the top free agent on the market committed to Ohio.
But this is Year 2 in Columbus for Johnny Hockey and things need to pick up, fast. Gaudreau has one goal through 13 games and new coach Pascal Vincent has even stapled him to the bench here and there.
There’s a serious sense of urgency in Columbus right now and Gaudreau needs to be part of the solution.
Jordan Kyrou, St. Louis Blues
St. Louis is having a heck of a time burying goals this year, mostly because its power play is converting at an almost unthinkable rate of just 2.3 percent.
Only two Blues — Robert Thomas (six) and Brandon Saad (three) have more than two goals this year. Obviously Kyrou — in the first year of a $65-million deal — was expected to produce more than the pair of goals he’s potted so far.
If it’s any consolation, Kyrou had three goals through 11 outings last season, then scored at a 41-goal pace the rest of the year.
Anders Lee, New York Islanders
The last three times Lee has played at least 75 games in a season he’s netted exactly 28 goals, including in each of the past two campaigns.
So one goal — and just one assist! — through a dozen games isn’t going to cut it for the Isles captain.
Like many supposed goal-scorers on this list, Lee’s shooting percentage is microscopic (3.8 percent) right now, so maybe things will improve soon.
Connor Hellebuyck, Winnipeg Jets
Hellebuyck re-upping with Winnipeg is a fantastic story and the Jets should be over the moon their crease stud is staying in Manitoba for the long haul.
That said, it’d be nice if the guy who was a Vezina finalist last year — and a Vezina winner in 2020 — glided into the crease soon.
Hellebuyck hasn’t been horrible, but 17 goalies with at least 250 minutes in the crease have a better five-on-five save percentage and 20 have a superior high-danger save percentage.
Overall, the 30-year-old sports an .892 save percentage and his goals-saved-above-expected is negative 0.5.
The Jets have pretty strong underlying numbers as a team, so it will help tremendously if the big guy gets them a few more saves.
Lindholm set a career high by nearly 20 points last year with his 10-43-53 line, so maybe that was a bit of an outlier. Still, the Bruins’ No. 2 D-man — who finished fourth in Norris voting last spring — is playing huge minutes in Boston while still looking for his first tally of the season and posting just two assists through 13 outings.
Lindholm has always traded more on efficient, smart hockey as opposed to offence, but for $6.5 million per year, those numbers need to improve.
Jason Robertson, Dallas Stars
Robertson — one of only eight players to score at least 40 goals in each of the past two seasons — has put a puck past a goalie just twice this year and has three total tallies thanks to his empty-netter on Thursday night in Columbus.
To be fair, the California kid has 10 points in 12 outings this season, so it’s not as though he’s been invisible. But for Dallas — a team with legit Cup aspirations — to be at its best, Robertson needs to start firing darts again.
Trevor Zegras, Anaheim Ducks
Okay, we’re cheating our $6 million cap hit filter here — thank you, as always, Cap Friendly — to include Zegras because he inked a new deal worth $5.75 annually just before the puck dropped on a new season and has just one goal and a single helper through 12 games.
Obviously missing training camp hurt the 22-year-old, to say nothing of the potential raw nerves from a long, drawn-out contract negotiation.
Now we also know Zegras has been fighting a lower-body injury, which kept him out of action Friday night during Anaheim’s 6-3 setback versus the Flyers.
It’s actually hard to believe things have gone so well in Anaheim without Zegras producing offensively. If he can get healthy and hit his stride in the next little while, the Ducks could become even more of a surprise team this young season.
Jonathan Huberdeau, Calgary Flames
Enough has been said here already, so let’s keep it short. Honestly, unless you’re a serious Flames hater (also called an “Oilers fan”) you’ve got to be rooting for Huberdeau to get back to at least something close to the 115-point winger he was during his final year in Florida.
Nobody knocks the effort or attitude, but the points just won’t seem to come.
