Oilers reporter under fire for dissing Alexander Ovechkin

Of course it isn't overly impressive to score 20 or 30 goals in today's NHL where 60 goal scorers are becoming more common - but considering context, this is a ridiculous take from Spector. Ovechkin pacing to score nearly 30 goals at age 38 on a Capitals team that bares no resemblance to their best seasons is very impressive. Wayne Gretzky only scored 9 goals in his final season, and he was the same age Ovechkin is now. If not for pandemics and lockouts, it's possible Ovechkin would be closing in on the record now.

For many of these reasons, fans gave Spector quite the amount of flak for his take of not being impressed by Ovechkin anymore.

Ovechkin is now officially 51 goals behind Gretzky for the all time record for goals scored. If he keeps up his recent hot streak he can make a serious dent in the gap, and he'll have two more seasons left on his contract before he's announced he'll retire. He still needs to keep up a respectable pace into his age 41 season to take the record from Gretzky, and for that he should absolutely be commended.