[Textcritic]

Alexander Ovechkin just became the eighth player in history to score 700 goals, and he looks to be the last player to achieve this astonishing milestone for the foreseeable future. Simply put: Ovechkin is closer to scoring his 800th goal than every active player except for Patrick Marleau is to scoring his 600th. The most incredible part of this is that he looks like he could actually do it.

This brought to my mind a question, which I think would make an interesting poll, and spark a fun discussion:

Who will get there first? Ovechkin to score his 800th goal or any other player to score 600?

As noted, only one other active player has scored more than 500 goals, Patrick Marleau, but he is already 40-years-old, and slowing down fast. Six active players have passed 400 goals—Sidney Crosby (458), Ilya Kovalchuk (442), Eric Staal (434), Steven Stamkos (422), Joe Thornton (415), and Evgeni Malkin (409).
Only Stamkos is under 30, and Kovalchuk, Staal and Thornton are all over 35-years-old.

I have put together a list of players who I believe to be the most likely to score 600 goals in their NHL careers based on current levels of production and age. I have also provided projections for when they could be expected to hit their next big milestone on the basis of their average, pro-rated production between 2017–20. If you have any players to add, or which you think should be removed from the poll, make your case.

Alexander Ovechkin: 100 goals to 800 — 34 yrs, 159 days || 52 G/Avg, eta: 2022
Patrick Marleau: 39 goals to 600 — 40 yrs, 161 days || 20 G/Avg, eta: 2022
Sidney Crosby: 142 goals to 600 — 32 yrs, 200 days || 32 G/Avg, eta: 2025
Steven Stamkos: 178 goals to 600 — 30 yrs, 15 days || 38 G/Avg, eta: 2025
John Tavares: 258 goals to 600 — 29 yrs, 156 days || 40 G/Avg, eta: 2027
Nikita Kucherov: 383 goals to 600 — 26 yrs, 251 days || 38 G/Avg, 2030
David Pasternak: 425 goals to 600 — 23 yrs, 335 days || 45 G/Avg, eta: 2030
Connor McDavid: 440 goals to 600 — 23 yrs, 41 days || 43 G/Avg, eta: 2031
Leon Draisaitl: 440 goals to 600 — 24 yrs, 119 days || 41 G/Avg, eta: 2031
Auston Matthews: 446 goals to 600 — 22 yrs, 159 days || 49 G/Avg, 2030

UPDATE!
I have given up on the initial question posed in this thread because Alexander Ovechkin is crushing it. He is now 55 goals away from 800, and no other active player is anywhere close to 600.

So, this is now the countdown thread as we witness the greatest goal-scorer of all time continue his explosion up the Leaderboard. I will be updating this thread daily.

1 Wayne Gretzky — 894 [1487 GP]
2 Gordie Howe — 801 [1767 GP]
3 Jaromir Jagr — 766 [1733 GP]
4 Alex Ovechkin — 750, *5 Dec: 20G/25GP [1222 GP]