The GOAT goal-scorer, indisputably (anybody who wants to argue that is very wrong, and frankly stupid)
The argument that he's a one-trick pony is wrong because his goal-scoring highlight reel is the most impressive, versatile, and fun highlight reel of any goal-scorer in NHL history... but also stupid, because what does that mean? He scores "too many" goals from one area of the ice?
An underrated passer; obviously his mentality as a goal-scorer/shooter prevents him from being a top-tier playmaker, but he averaged 56 assists a season through his first 5 seasons in the league; his linemates really let him down after that. Backstrom is the most underrated NHL player of all-time: maybe the best playmaker of his generation, a top tier two-way player as well (he's absolutely Toews' equal, if not better, and roughly on Kopitar's level; he should've won a Selke or two, but he never finished higher than 7th! Voters should lose their votes) BUT... he just wasn't quite the goal-scorer Ovie needed to take advantage of Ovie's passing. ALSO the Caps were "lucky" with what I call complementary 1st liners
(guys I'd say are maybe more 2nd liners than 1st, in a vacuum, but are so well-rounded that they fit on a 1st line seamlessly by complementing the legit 1st liners - a good goal scorer even if not quite a sniper, a really good and smart passer even if not quite a playmaker, a good defender) with Mike Knuble, into TJ Oshie, into Tom Wilson... but Marcus Johansson was really not a good fit there and *really* depressed Ovie's point totals. (On paper he fits that complementary 1st liner mold: really good passer, solid shot, great skater, smart defensively... but he just didn't fit. No shame, nothing wrong with being a nice middle-6 F. BUT we could've drafted Wayne Simmonds, which would've made that Knuble -> Simmonds -> Oshie -> Wilson lineage so satisfying. Oh well.)
but Ovie didn't really have a true goal-scorer on his line after the uber-talented/ultra frustrating Semin left...
And of course, nothing needs to be said about his hitting; when you see the list of, like, the top 20 goal scorers since Ovie entered the league, with their goals and their hits, it's WILD how much Ovie dominates both categories. (He's also MUCH better defensively than he's given credit for. At his age, now, he's a negative defensively, but for the bulk of his career, he was somewhere between mediocre and solid, leaning towards "solid at worst" under Trotz.)
This highlight reel... I disagree with some of the decisions as far as what is honorable mention vs actually cracks the top-10. I would lean towards the milestones being honorable mentions, and his hit on Ruutu shouldn't crack the top-10: it's a really good, textbook hit with great force, but c'mon, dude is the greatest goal-scorer of all-time, a routine hit shouldn't crack the list. (But I get it as an honorable mention, to show off his versatility.) But overall, if you worry less about how it's ranked and focus more on what plays are on here, it's great. And the top-5 is pretty unassailable.
So... enjoy.
