Ranking the 5 Greatest Scorers in Washington Capitals History

The NHL's most basic rule has not changed: The team who outscores their opponent wins the game. Therefore, goal scorers will always be at a premium. 

It doesn't really matter how these goal scorers get the job done. Some use pure speed. Some use a deadly shot. Others go to the dirty areas and get those greasy, grimy goals that no one else wants to touch with a 39-and-a-half-foot hockey stick. 

No worries. If it turns the red light on, it's a goal. 

A lot of red lights have been turned on throughout the Capitals' 40-year history, and a great deal of these goals have been scored by a select group of lamplighters. To quantify these elite goal scorers, one need only look at the average number of goals per game. Because the numbers never lie. 

With that in mind, here is a ranking of the five greatest scorers in Washington Capitals' history, with one honorable mention. Each player will be ranked solely on the basis of his regular-season goals per game average (minimum 100 goals scored), with his postseason goals per game average included as a reference. 

Note: All statistics courtesy of Hockey-Reference.com unless noted otherwise. 

Honorable Mention: Alexander Semin LW

Greg Fiume/Getty Images

	GOALS	GAMES	GOALS PER GAME
REGULAR SEASON	197	469	0.42
POSTSEASON	15	51	0.29

Alexander Semin is not being excluded from the top five goal scorers in Capitals history for some statistical reason, such as insufficient number of games played. As a matter of fact, Semin played significantly more games as a Capital than two of the members of the top five. 

No, Semin was selected as an honorable mention to illustrate two important points about the Capitals' greatest goal scorers:  

1. Semin represents the best of the rest. 
2. The top five are in a class by themselves. 

After a sizable gap between the goals per game averages of the fifth-best goal scorer and Semin, there is another sizable gap in that statistic between Semin and the pack of players that follow him. However, it is worth noting that Semin is the sixth and final Capitals player to average at least 0.40 goals per game in his career in Washington. 

In that seven-year career in Washington, Semin was twice a 30-goal scorer and once a 40-goal scorer. He also averaged 0.55 goals per game in two consecutive seasons. 

Of course, if Semin had scored goals on a more consistent basis while in Washington, as many thought he was more than capable of doing, then he would have cracked the top five. 

5. Peter Bondra RW

Mitchell Layton/Getty Images

	GOALS	GAMES	GOALS PER GAME
REGULAR SEASON	472	961	0.49
POSTSEASON	30	73	0.41

Capitals fans may be surprised that Bonsai ranks as the fifth-greatest goal scorer in team history. After all, he still holds the franchise mark for regular-season goals scored, according to NHL.com. However, his place on this list is more a function of his longevity than his lack of productivity.

Peter Bondra played in almost 1,000 regular-season games with the Capitals, over 200 more games with the franchise than any other player on this list. Yet Bondra still averaged just under half-a-goal per game. That's impressive. 

In parts of 14 seasons in Washington, the speedy Slovakian winger reached the 50-goal plateau twice, the 40-goal plateau twice and the 30-goal plateau five times. Plus, Bondra led the NHL in goal scoring two different times. 

Only one other player on this list ever led the league in goal scoring during the regular season. 

4. Dino Ciccarelli RW

Steve Babineau/Getty Images

	GOALS	GAMES	GOALS PER GAME
REGULAR SEASON	112	223	0.50
POSTSEASON	21	32	0.66

Dino Ciccarelli was my favorite Capitals player while growing up. He had a cool name, he wore my lucky number and he scored a lot of goals. But before I knew it, he was gone, leaving after parts of four seasons. 

Despite his brief stay, the Capitals still managed to get more bang for their buck out of Ciccarelli than any other goal scorer in franchise history. Dino averaged half-a-goal per game in Washington while playing in only 223 games over the course of four seasons. 

Ciccarelli stands out from the other players on this list for another reason, as well. The Ontario native "quickly established a reputation as a gritty, in-your-face forward, scoring the majority of his goals from the lip of the crease, and usually after absorbing considerable punishment from opposing defencemen [sic] and netminders," according to his alumni profile at Capitals.com. 

He also stands out for his potency in the postseason. Ciccarelli has the best postseason goals per game average of any player on this list, by a healthy margin. 

3. Mike Gartner RW

Steve Babineau/Getty Images

	GOALS	GAMES	GOALS PER GAME
REGULAR SEASON	397	758	0.52
POSTSEASON	16	47	0.34

Like Peter Bondra in the decade after him, Mike Gartner was a speedy winger who played a long time in Washington and scored on a consistent basis. 

In fact, the Hockey Hall of Fame writes that this Ottawa native was "always one of the fastest skaters in the NHL," adding that "Michael Alfred Gartner used his blazing speed and a hard, accurate shot to become one of the most consistent scorer's [sic] in league history." 

Gartner played parts of 10 seasons in DC. Of his nine full seasons as a Cap, Gartner never failed to score at least 30 goals, reaching 40 goals four times and 50 goals once.

As of right now, Gartner is ranked second in franchise history and sixth in NHL history in regular-season goals, according to NHL.com. He scored more than half of his 708 career goals in Washington.

Due to this prodigious goal scoring, Gartner's No. 11 is one of only four retired sweater numbers in Capitals history. Gartner is the only player on this list to receive that honor. 

2. Dennis Maruk C

Steve Babineau/Getty Images

	GOALS	GAMES	GOALS PER GAME
REGULAR SEASON	182	343	0.53
POSTSEASON	1	4	0.25

Dennis Maruk did a lot in a short amount of time in the nation's capital. Read the following passage from Capitals.com to learn more about the diminutive center from Toronto: 

"

Known for his trademark handle-bar mustache, small physical stature and staggering offensive numbers, Dennis Maruk found a permanent home in the hearts of Washington-area fans as well as the team's record book during his five-year stint with the Capitals. At 5-foot-8 and 175 pounds, the feisty center, known to his teammates as Pee-Wee, made up for his lack of size with grittiness and determination. 

"

Maruk played only three full seasons of his five total seasons in Washington. In these three seasons, Maruk tallied a 30-goal campaign, a 50-goal campaign and a 60-goal campaign, the best of these occurring in 1981-82.

Joe Pelletier of WashingtonCapitalsLegends.com wrote that "Maruk dwarfed his own numbers in 1981-82 when he turned in one of the best single season performances in National Hockey League history." In fact, Maruk compiled one of only 39 60-goal seasons in league history, according to NHL.com (as of April 7, 2012). 

Pretty big numbers from a guy named "Pee-Wee". 

1. Alex Ovechkin LW/RW

Glenn James/Getty Images

	GOALS	GAMES	GOALS PER GAME
REGULAR SEASON	375	604	0.62
POSTSEASON	31	58	0.53

If you read any of my "greatest in Washington Capitals history" articles this summer, you know that I prefer not to bestow accolades and superlatives upon the current generation of Capitals' players, instead deferring to past generations of Caps except when painfully obvious. Keeping that in mind, and continuing the statistical emphasis that was established at the beginning of this particular list, it can therefore be declared that Alex Ovechkin is the greatest scorer in Capitals history. After all, the numbers never lie. 

To show that Ovechkin is head-and-shoulders above the rest of Washington's best goal scorers, Ovechkin's regular-season goals per game average is a healthy 0.09 greater than that of the Caps' second-best goal scorer in this ranking. However, a meager 0.04 goals per game separates the second-best goal scorer from the fifth-best on this list. 

There's more. In eight full seasons in Washington, Ovechkin has never failed to score at least 30 goals, much like Mike Gartner before him. However, in Ovechkin's case, one of those 30-goal seasons was accomplished last year, in which he only played 48 games due to a work stoppage. Ovechkin also has a 40-goal season, three 50-goal seasons and a 60-goal season, the last of which was not accomplished by Gartner. In 2007-08, Ovechkin joined Dennis Maruk as a 60-goal scorer, registering the 23rd-highest single season goal total in NHL history, according to NHL.com. 

Ovechkin has had four seasons in which he led the NHL in goals per game, and three seasons in which he led the NHL in goals, doing that more than any other Capitals player. In the process, he earned himself three Rocket Richard Trophies, becoming the first NHL player to achieve that hat trick since the award for top goal scorer was first handed out in 1998-99, according to Hockey-Reference.com. 

In closing, Alex Ovechkin is the greatest scorer in Washington Capitals history, and it's really not even close. Now with that out of the way, Ovechkin can set his sights even higher. He can aim to become the greatest scorer in NHL history. 

So, who is he shooting for? 

Using regular season goals per game average as the guideline once again, here is a table showing the three greatest scorers in NHL history. This trio was chosen from the first 30 players listed among the career leaders in regular-season goals scored, according to NHL.com (minimum 538 goals scored): 

	GOALS	GAMES	GOALS PER GAME
Mike Bossy	573	752	0.76
Mario Lemieux	690	915	0.75
Wayne Gretzky	894	1,487	0.60

In Ovechkin's quest to be the greatest scorer in NHL history, it's one down and two to go.