Alexander Oveckhkin's Ugly Plus/Minus

Alexander Ovechkin is having a most interesting season.

Ovie has runaway with the NHL goal scoring lead. He's got 45 goals and is likely the only NHLer who will hit 50 this season.

Yes, the plus/minus statistic which measures goals for/goals against for every player on the ice is deeply flawed. For example, Ovie has scored 19 power play goals where he gets no credit in the plus/minus category. But still 45 goals and -31 is pretty hard to do.

That got me thinking: Has a 50 goal scorer ever had such a lowly plus/minus ranking?

It turns out Ovie is nearing record territory in this category.

Mike Bullard (1983-84)  76gp 51-41-92, -33

Brett Hull (1992-93)  80gp 54-47-101, -27

Rick Martin (1973-74)  78gp  52-34-86, -22

Mickey Redmond (1973-74)  76gp 51-26-77, -21

Jimmy Carson (1987-88) 80gp, 55-52-107, -19

Of note, all these players have high power play goal totals except Martin who had just 8 PP tallies.

Here's a look at some more notable high goal totals with matching low plus/minus rankings.

Doug Shedden (1984-85) 80gp, 35-32-67, -51

Phil Esposito (1975-76) 74gp, 35-48-83, -40

Joe Sakic (1989-90) 80gp, 39-63-102, -40

Gilbert Perreault (1970-71) 78gp, 38-34-72, -39

Rick Martin (1971-72) 73gp, 44-30-74, -38

Mario Lemieux (1984-85) 73gp, 43-57-100, -35

Rick Nash (2003-04) 80gp, 41-15-57, -35

Michel Goulet (1987-88) 80gp, 48-58-106, -31

Wayne Gretzky (1993-94) 81gp, 38-92-130, -25