TSN Top 50 NHL Players List missing a familiar face

TSN's panel of hockey experts will announce its Top 50 NHL Players list beginning on Monday, and a familiar face will be absent.

This year’s edition of the rankings - an annual projection of the top players for the upcoming season - will not feature Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin for the first time since the survey was introduced in 2010.

Ovechkin has been a mainstay on the list, ranked as high as No. 2 in 2010 and 2011, and as low as No. 33 in last year’s rankings.

The 39-year-old winger had his worst start to a season in his career last year, recording only five goals in his first 29 games. He later picked up the pace after the All-Star break, putting up 26 goals and 36 points in 36 games to lead his team to the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Ovechkin finished last season with 31 goals and 65 points in 79 games, the lowest goal and point totals in a non-shortened season of his career.

The 6-foot-3 winger will still be worth keeping an eye on this season as he approaches Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal-scoring record.

Ovechkin enters his 20th season at 853 goals, just 41 goals shy of what was once thought to be an unbreakable record.

The Capitals believe that Ovechkin is still very capable of putting up similar numbers as he’s done in the past, and fully believe that he will either break the record this season or next.

“There's been a lot more seasons of 40-plus goals for him than there have been without 40-plus goals for him," teammate Dylan Strome told NHL.com on Aug. 22. "Everyone counted him out throughout 40 games last year and he really took off in the second half, so I'd expect a lot of the 'second half Ovi’ that we got last year. We are all waiting for it, and we'll be ready. I'll be looking to pass to him of course."

“Ovi has done so many things that people never thought he could do, so I think it’s on the table for sure,” general manager Chris Patrick said on Aug. 20.

Ovechkin has a history of bouncing back after an off-year by his standards. After only recording 33 goals and 69 points during the 2016-17 season, he came back the following year by registering 49 goals and 87 points.

Earlier in his career, he had three straight seasons without cracking the 40-goal plateau from 2011-13, only to score 50 or more goals the following three campaigns.

The Russian forward has still never scored fewer than 30 goals in a non-shortened NHL season.

Ovechkin will have some new faces among his supporting cast in Washington this season after the team added forwards Pierre-Luc Dubois and Andrew Mangiapane, defencemen Jakub Chychrun and Matt Roy, and goaltender Logan Thompson in the off-season.

TSN Hockey will announce the 41st-50th ranked players on Monday and will count down throughout the week until the full reveal special on Friday.