The 2024 NHL season is underway, and one of many main storylines on the ice this season issues one participant’s pursuit of a report beforehand thought unreachable.
Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin started the 12 months 40 targets shy of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time mark of 894 profession NHL targets. However with Ovechkin off to a sizzling begin this season the Capitals star is now simply 15 targets shy of Gretzky, with 879 profession targets. Objective #16 would put Ovechkin atop the leaderboard.
That pursuit obtained us pondering right here at SB Nation.
What are the remaining unreachable targets in sports activities?
Right here is our listing.
Jerry Rice profession receiving yards
Jerry Rice has 22,895 receiving yards, which is 5,403 yards forward of second place Larry Fitzgerald, and 9,192 yards forward of Julio Jones who is just not but retired and thus the main energetic receiver on the all-time receiving yards listing. If we glance by means of gamers which have performed lower than ten seasons and thus might nonetheless have some large numbers in them, we get to Tyreek Hill. He has 10,601 yards, which implies he’s not even midway to Rice.
Right here’s an much more spectacular stat from Jerry Rice. He turned 30 on October 13, 1992. Since that date, he has hauled in 13,546 receiving yards. If we make a profession out of simply Jerry Rice’s receiving yards after he turned 30, he would rank seventeenth. And let’s not neglect that his post-30 profession consists of his age 35 season misplaced to a torn ACL!
What makes these all of the extra GOAT-level numbers is the period through which he achieved all this. Defensive gamers might do nearly no matter they needed to offensive gamers. The league wasn’t doing all the pieces it might to guard quarterbacks and large receivers and increase the offensive performances. Whereas Joe Montana, Steve Younger, and others have been getting destroyed by move rushers, Rice was having to combat off prime quality defensive backs that might get further bodily with him. If we gave Rice the foundations we see now to guard offensive gamers, he very properly is perhaps up over 30,000 profession yards.
Bruce Smith 200 profession sacks
Bruce Smith’s 200 profession sacks may by no means be reached.
Smith holds that report by simply two over Reggie White, however there’s a substantial drop-off after these two sack masters. Kevin Greene is third on the all-time listing with 160 profession sacks.
The energetic chief? Von Miller with 126.5.
Cameron Jordan is subsequent on the energetic listing with 118.5 sacks, however each Miller and Jordan are nearing the top of their respective careers. Pittsburgh Steelers star T.J. Watt might need essentially the most real looking shot, as he at present has 103 sacks. However he would want to place up some monster numbers to get inside true hanging distance of Smith on the prime. For instance, Watt would want to match or surpass his yearly common of 15.5 sacks for greater than six extra seasons to achieve Smith.
Emmitt Smith 18,355 profession speeding yards
When Emmitt Smith walked away from the NFL on the finish of his lengthy profession, he did because the league’s all-time speeding chief with 18,355 yards to his credit score.
He additionally did in order a member of the Arizona Cardinals, however that could be a story for one more time.
The league’s energetic speeding chief? That may be Derrick Henry, who’s coming of an impressive season with the Baltimore Ravens. In his first 12 months within the AFC North Henry ran for 1,921 yards because the Ravens gained the division.
That introduced Henry’s profession mark to 11,423 yards, 6,932 yards shy of Smith’s report.
At his profession common of 1,428 yards per season, Henry would want one other 5 seasons of such manufacturing to achieve that mark. With Henry about to play his tenth NFL season, it’s a chance, however he would want to maintain up an unbelievable tempo to achieve Smith.
Past Henry, the following energetic leaders are Ezekiel Elliott (9,130), Joe Mixon (7,428) and Saquon Barkley (7,216).
Wayne Gretzky 1,963 profession assists and a pair of,857 profession factors
Ovechkin’s pursuit of Gretzky’s 894 profession targets might even see the Capitals star catch The Nice One.
However a few of Gretzky’s different data, particularly his profession help mark and his profession factors mark, are probably out of attain.
For instance, on the subject of profession assists Sidney Crosby is the energetic chief, with 1,015. That places Crosby 948 shy of Gretzky’s mark.
Crosby can be in his twentieth NHL season, and has already hinted on the finish of his profession.
The Pittsburgh Penguins star can be the energetic chief in factors, with 1,613. He trails Gretzky by 1,244, and once more, Crosby is in his twentieth NHL season.
A participant to look at is perhaps Connor McDavid. The Edmonton Oilers star simply joined the 1,000-point membership, turning into the fourth-fastest participant in league historical past to achieve that milestone.
With 1,001 profession factors, McDavid would want to common at the very least 100 factors for greater than 18 seasons to achieve Gretzky’s factors report.
Cy Younger’s 749 profession full video games
The fashionable MLB has seen a progress in the usage of aid pitchers. From the monitoring of pitch counts to watch the wear and tear and pressure on participant’s arms, to the usage of gamers at varied levels of video games to both shut them out, and even get a single hitter out, has seen the whole recreation turn out to be a factor of the previous.
Which signifies that Cy Younger’s mark of 749 full video games, barring an enormous shift in how the game is performed, won’t ever be reached.
Why? The energetic chief in full video games proper now’s Justin Verlander.
With 26.
Don Bradman’s profession check cricket batting common of 99.9
It’s unattainable to understand simply how unbreakable this report is due to how few folks comply with cricket in the USA — however I’m going to attempt. The best fashionable cricket participant, India’s Sachin Tendulkar had a profession batting common of 53.4 runs-per-game, which is actually astonishing.
Australian legend Donald Bradman virtually doubled it.
In the case of RBIs in baseball Albert Pujols is in second place with 2,218 and Hank Aaron owns the report at 2,297. So think about for a second that Tendulkar is Pujols, and Aaron is Bradman. To ensure that the report holder to personal the report to the extent Bradman does it will require Hank Aaron to have 4,059 RBIs.
Each single time Bradman was at bat he’d common a century. That may be like stepping foot on the sector and hitting 1.5 RBIs each recreation, and doing that on your whole profession. Nothing will ever break it.
Cal Ripken Jr.’s 2,632 consecutive video games
The Iron Man stands alone in not simply baseball, however each single sport. To take the sector each single recreation for 16 YEARS is completely unattainable. It’s not nearly being robust and enjoying by means of ache, however managing to keep away from a minefield for accidents for over a decade and a half.
With athletes pushing themselves more durable than ever it feels completely unattainable anybody will attain this mark once more.
Night time Practice Lane’s 14 interception season
Night time Practice Lane set this report for the Los Angeles Rams again in 1952, and over 70 years later it nonetheless stands. Not solely have solely three folks ever registered 13 INTs, however Lane did it when the season was solely 12 video games lengthy.
We had a second in 2021 when Trevon Diggs reached 11 INTs, however he was nonetheless brief in a 17 recreation season.
Within the final 24 years we’ve solely had seven gamers register 10 or extra INTs in a season, and the very best has been Diggs with 11. That is an period of Darrelle Revis, Charles Woodson, Champ Bailey — Corridor of Fame cornerbacks, and none have been near 14 INTs.
With 72 years within the books and way more to come back, this is perhaps essentially the most unbreakable report within the NFL.
Tiger Woods and Sam Snead’s 82 PGA Tour titles
For greater than 50 years, Sam Snead’s report of 82 profession PGA Tour titles stood the check of time, proving how demanding this accomplishment is. His final PGA Tour victory got here on the 1965 Higher Greensboro Open, whereas his first got here in West Virginia in 1936. He additionally managed to win seven majors in between.
After which Tiger Woods got here alongside. Between 1996 and 2013, Woods gained 79 PGA Tour titles, together with 14 main championships. He dominated the game, profitable on programs resembling Torrey Pines, Bay Hill, Muirfield Village, and Firestone Nation Membership 12 months in and 12 months out. Thirty-one of his PGA Tour titles got here on these 4 programs alone, together with the 2008 U.S. Open, which he gained on one leg.
Accidents then plagued him from 2014 to 2018, and on the price he was going, he would have handed Snead’s illusive report with ease. Then Woods had a late-career resurgence, profitable three tournaments in 2018 and 2019, together with The Masters. His victory on the 2019 ZOZO Championship in Japan gave him win quantity 82, thus tying the report.
As for as we speak, an excessive amount of expertise exists in golf for somebody to dominate the game like Woods did in his heyday. Consider all the good gamers who headline golf in 2025. Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, and Rory McIlroy instantly come to thoughts, and mixed, they’ve gained 47 titles. McIlroy at present leads all energetic PGA Tour professionals with 27 profession victories, and he solely has a couple of decade of his prime to go. So that is all to say that no one is catching Woods or Snead anytime quickly and, in all probability, ever once more.
