For most players, 32 goals in a season would be considered great, maybe even a career-high. But for Alex Ovechkin, who in his first five seasons had 269 goals in 396 games (0.68 per game, around 55-56 every year), and had only scored less than 50 once (and 46 is very close to 50), 32 goals was less than half of his career high. In fact, as of 2017 it is still his career-low.
Ovi started the season off strong - 4 goals in his first 4 games and 10 in his first 18. It wasn't up to his usual pace but keep in mind he scored 2 in his first 11 back in 2008-09 and ended the year with 56. Nothing was too out of the ordinary for the Great 8 so far. Unfortunately, Ovechkin would score just twice in his next 19 games. After never finishing lower than 4th, Ovechkin finished 15th in goal scoring. Again, not bad unless you're Alex Ovechkin.
Why the sudden decline? For starters, Ovechkin led the league in shots on goal for the 6th straight year with 367. The issue? His shooting percentage dropped from his average of around 12.5% to what is still a career-low 8.7%. For comparison, his next lowest shooting percentage was 10.5% in 2016-17. He had also shown signs of decline after the Olympics the previous year. He finished the season with just 9 goals in his last 19 games, after 42 in 53 before the break. After a shocking first round loss to the 8th-seeded Montreal Canadiens, critics claimed Ovechkin had be figured out (I don't know how you can consider 5 goals and 10 points in 7 games "figured out" but whatever). Ovi looked like he had lost the pop in his step, not as hell-bent on scoring goals no matter what as he was before. The shots just weren't going in the way they used to. You wouldn't be watching a game and have that gut feeling that he was going to score anymore. Something was off with the Russian Machine.
Part of the decline in production can also be attributed to the Capitals overall focus shift from offense to defense. After the aforementioned loss to the Canadiens the, the Capitals as an organization overreacted. Ignoring the fact that they heavily outplayed the Habs in the series and lost due to a spectacular performance by goalie Jaroslav Halak in the last 3 games, they blamed their run-and-gun style of play instead. Their defense may have needed some work, but the team was built to score goals. They managed to finish with the 4th fewest goals against in 2010-11, but their offense suffered, being shut out a league-high 11 times. They still managed to finish first in the East, but a 2nd round sweep by the Tampa Bay Lightning proved that the shift to defense wasn't the solution. Despite so many things going wrong for Ovechkin, he was still a 30-goal scorer, proving that even in the absolute worst of worst years, not many were better at scoring goals than the Great 8.
1 - October 9, 2010 vs. New Jersey Devils - 0:01
2 - October 9, 2010 vs. New Jersey Devils - 0:27 - 2nd career penalty shot goal
3 - October 11, 2010 vs. Ottawa Senators - 1:20
4 - October 13, 2010 vs. New York Islanders - 2:10
5 - October 28, 2010 vs. Minnesota Wild - 2:43
6 - October 30, 2010 vs. Calgary Flames - 3:16
7 - October 30, 2010 vs. Calgary Flames - 3:52 - 2 goals in 12 seconds
8 - November 5, 2010 vs. Boston Bruins - 4:04
9 - November 11, 2010 vs. Tampa Bay Lightning - 4:25
10 - November 14, 2010 vs. Atlanta Thrashers - 4:54
11 - December 4, 2010 vs. Atlanta Thrashers - 5:35 - First goal in 9 games
12 - December 6, 2010 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs - 6:13* - Ridiculous bar down snipe
13 - December 26, 2010 vs. Carolina Hurricanes - 6:54
14 - December 28, 2010 vs. Montreal Canadiens - 7:27
15 - January 8, 2011 vs. Florida Panthers - 7:40*
16 - January 18, 2011 vs. Philadelphia Flyers - 8:31
17 - January 22, 2011 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs - 9:17
18 - January 22, 2011 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs - 9:56
19 - January 22, 2011 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs - 10:26 - 10th career hat trick
20 - February 4, 2011 vs. Tampa Bay Lightning - 11:05
21 - February 12, 2011 vs. Los Angeles Kings - 11:40
22 - February 16, 2011 vs. Anaheim Ducks - 12:08*
23 - February 17, 2011 vs. San Jose Sharks - 12:48
24 - February 21, 2011 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins - 13:12
25 - March 1, 2011 vs. New York Islanders - 13:40* - End to end OT winner
26 - March 9, 2011 vs. Edmonton Oilers - 14:19
27 - March 9, 2011 vs. Edmonton Oilers - 14:46*
28 - March 11, 2011 vs. Carolina Hurricanes - 15:57
29 - March 16, 2011 vs. Detroit Red Wings - 16:51
30 - April 2, 2011 vs. Buffalo Sabres - 17:08 - Dances after OT winner
31 - April 5, 2011 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs - 18:02 - 300th career goal
32 - April 6, 2011 vs. Florida Panthers - 18:36
* - Highlight reel goal
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