Could He Score . . . a Thousand???

The occasion of Alexander Ovechkin's 50th goal last night led Mike Vogel and Steve Kolbe on the game's radio broadcast to reflect somewhat whimsically on a flight of extreme fantasy they'd heard bandied about the press earlier this season: could Ovi actually tally 1,000 goals in his career? I shook my head. A thousand? With so many of them needing to be scored on our sheet of ice? But just as you begin to laugh off the suggestion you pause ever so briefly and think, If it is ever to be accomplished, Ovi certainly seems like the one to pull it off. Some reasons why: Russian Machine doesn't much break down.He does shoot the puck often enough.He's not yet in his prime as a hockey player, and in his first four seasons he's averaged more than 50 goals a season.He looks to have an elite playmaking pivot on his line for as far as the eye can see, one who is his peer and could well set him up for 70- and even 80-goal seasons once Ovi reaches his prime.   He'...