Alex Ovechkin will face the Avalanche on Thursday night needing two goals to become the eighth member of the NHL’s 700 club. But because of his age, that milestone goes beyond hockey and puts the Washington Capitals superstar on par with the greatest professional athletes of all time.
The Capitals’ media relations staff duly suggests that 700 goals are equivalent to 30,000 points in the NBA, 600 home runs in MLB and 400 touchdowns passing in the NFL, and only two players in those other leagues reached the benchmark before age 35: Basketball’s LeBron James and the late Kobe Bryant.