And yet, he just broke Gordie Howe's record and now stands at 803, heading towards Wayne's record.
The hits pucks for a living and has weathered decades of scrutiny about his loyalty to many things Russian.
Because, at least for me, while it is intellectually possible to distinguish between Ovechkin the hockey player and Ovechkin the political commentator, it is a leap too far to do so on an emotional basis
Of course Larry can't like Ov, he's a New Yorker pandering to Ranger and Islander fans. These are some of the worse rivalries in the Atlantic Division.
It's certainly not worse than the sexual abuse that comes out of Michigan's college programs.