Washington Capitals fans know the anxiety-inducing pressure of an NHL shootout all too well. Last season, the Caps went 2-3 in the skills competition and didn’t win their first shootout until March.
Many may yearn for the days when the Caps could more reliably snag the extra point from the jaws of stalemate, especially when players like TJ Oshie and Evgeny Kuznetsov led the team’s shootout lineup.
The duo are among the best shootout performers since the league introduced the format in 2005-06. Among players with at least 50 attempts, Oshie and Kuznetsov’s career shootout percentages both crack the top 10 in NHL history. Oshie sits at fourth all-time scoring at a 47.1 percent clip, while Kuznetsov ranks ninth with 43.3 percent. Only one player with more than 50 attempts has shot better than .500: Erik Christiansen (52.7 percent). 10th place Wojtek Wolski also donned a Capitals uniform during his career, playing 27 games for Washington in 2012-13, but wasn’t called upon for a shootout while in DC.
NHL highest career shootout % (minimum 50 attempts)
| Rank | Player | Attempts | Goals | S/O S% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Erik Christensen | 55 | 29 | 52.7 |
| 2 | Aleksander Barkov | 68 | 33 | 48.5 |
| 3 | Jonathan Toews | 110 | 52 | 47.3 |
| 4 | T.J. Oshie | 104 | 49 | 47.1 |
| 5 | Tyler Seguin | 69 | 32 | 46.4 |
| 6 | Frans Nielsen | 106 | 49 | 46.2 |
| 7 | Mats Zuccarello | 86 | 39 | 45.4 |
| 8 | Brad Boyes | 88 | 39 | 44.3 |
| 9 | Evgeny Kuznetsov | 67 | 29 | 43.3 |
| 10 | Wojtek Wolski | 58 | 25 | 43.1 |
One of the most famous moments of Oshie’s career came in the shootout, though it wasn’t in the NHL. His skills garnered international attention at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, when he single-handedly defeated Team Russia by scoring four times in a group stage match shootout. Though Team USA went on to lose to Canada in the semifinals, Oshie’s performance against Russia earned him the nickname “TJ Sochi.” His prowess from then on was impressive enough that back-to-back Stanley Cup champion Matthew Tkachuk said in July that he’d pick Oshie over Wayne Gretzky in a do-or-die shootout.
“That’s so tough,” Tkachuk told podcaster Jon “Stugotz” Weiner. “I feel like I saw somewhere once Gretzky said he didn’t like breakaways, which I find that that’s not true, but one of my favorite moments in sports history was watching Oshie in the four-shootout-goal game, so I’m going to take Oshie.”
Kuznetsov, on the other hand, developed his trademark “Slownetsov” move to keep opponents on their toes. After starting off at normal speed, he’d put on the brakes and approach the net at a snail’s pace, dribbling the puck at least a dozen times before whipping it at the net.
The strategy drew the ire of some hockey pundits, including Gretzky, who suggested a shootout time limit in 2023. Kuznetsov shrugged off the criticism at the time.
“This is the whole point: you are one-on-one and there are no more rules,” he said then. “By the time it’s banned, I’ll be retired.”
Kuznetsov’s time in the NHL appears to be over, but the move remains legal. He even brought it back to Russia during his time in the KHL.
When ranking players by total shootout goals rather than success rate, Oshie moves up to third with 49 career tallies, just four behind all-time leader Patrick Kane (53). Alex Ovechkin, too, has left his mark on the shootout record book with a third-place 125 career attempts.
