That's an incredible 840 more than the runner-up, Marcel Dionne, who holds the mark for forwards with 5,366. He's followed by Al MacInnis (5,157), Mike Gartner (5,090), Wayne Gretzky (5,089) and
Ocho Cinco jersey Brendan Shanahan (5,086). They are the only players to exceed 5,000 shots in a career -- so far. Among players who were active in 2009-10, Mike Modano is tops with 4,194.
But Ovechkin appears to have a good chance to overtake Bourque -- he has 2,159 shots in his
Felix Jones jersey first five seasons, an average of more than 430. That pace would move Ovi past Bourque before he reaches his 35th birthday.
Plus signs -- Bourque also was an impressive plus-528 during his 21 NHL seasons. But that's only good enough for a distant second on the all-time list since the stat first was made official in the 1960s. Hall of Famer Larry Robinson is the runaway leader in
Tony Romo jersey career plus-minus at plus-730, a mark that's not likely to be broken anytime soon. Besides Robinson and Bourque, only Gretzky (plus-518) and Bobby Clarke (plus-506) are more than plus-500 for their careers. The active leader is Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom at plus-431 -- and he's light years ahead of runner-up Patrik Elias of New Jersey, who's plus-198.
Robinson's 1976-77 season, in which he was plus-120 for a Montreal team that lost
Knowshon Moreno jersey only eight games, is one of two in which a player was more than plus-100 for a full season. Bobby Orr holds the record with a plus-124 rating in 1970-71. The best showing in the past decade was plus-52 by Colorado's Peter Forsberg and Milan Hejduk in 2002-03.
Working overtime -- For a couple of seasons in the early 1990s, the NHL played an 84-game schedule -- 41 home games, 41 away games and
Peyton Manning jersey two "neutral-site" contests that were played in non-NHL cities. The League returned to the 82-game schedule in 1995-96, but not before leaving two men holding a record that will be tough to break.