Ilya Kovalchuk is On Fire!

After a slow start to the season for Kovalchuk (20 goals up until the All-Star break, which is slow by Ilya’s standards); Ilya Kovalchuk has stepped up his game recently and has 8 goals and 3 assists in Atlanta’s last five games.

Above is the video from last nights game which Ilya Kovalchuk put up two great goals and helped Atlanta prevail in the shootout.

Think about this….Ilya Kovalchuk is not even in the top 3 of best players from his country (Ovechkin, Datsyuk, Malkin.)

What do they put in the water over in Russia?

Imagine if Kovalchuk was on a team that actually fought for the playoffs year in and year out? He has been on a team where he is playing for his own pride and career rather than a championship. The NHL needs to send him to a big market. He has the potential marketability as Ovechkin.

Ilya Kovalchuk is currently 25 years old. He has 283 goals currently and will probably finish with about 300 after this season.

I think it is safe to assume that if he plays in the NHL for 15 more seasons until he is 40 and averages 35 goals per season (which is safe considering the 50 goal seasons will average out any potential 20 goal seasons he has later) he will finish with around 825 goals. Thats only 70 behind Gretzky for 2nd all-time.

Just think about that for a bit…..It is very possible and maybe even likely that Ilya Kovalchuk may come close to and even pass Wayne Gretzky for most goals all-time.

….and I will calculate Alexander Ovechkin’s potential goal total soon. I think his is even higher.