Tami Chappell / Reuters file

Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin made a big splash last season, becoming only the second rookie to record 50 goals and 100 points in a season.

“Unless you’ve played hockey ...” Kolzig says, trailing off. “It’s tough enough to concentrate just skating with the puck.”

Of course, there also is Ovechkin’s amazing goal-scoring skill. This is a player who actually makes Kolzig take pity on the opposing goaltender.

“Every night,” he says when asked whether he ever feels bad for the guy in the other net. “Every night I was like, ‘Thank God I only have to face him in practice.’ Last season he did some things that were just magical.”

Take goal No. 32, on January 16, 2006, in Phoenix. Now that was magical. You know the goal. Ovechkin comes down the right side, then cuts across the ice. While trying to go around a defenseman, he loses his balance and falls. He does not, however, lose track of the puck. As he slides on his back through the bottom of the left faceoff circle, he gets his stick over his head and, snaring the puck in the bend between the blade and the stick, instinctively sweeps it into the net. Words just don’t do it justice.

It seemed somehow appropriate that he scored his most amazing goal with Gretzky watching from the opposing bench, then looking up at the big screen to see it again. But what happened after the goal — Ovechkin kissed his left glove and raised his arm in honor of his brother Sergei, who was killed in a car accident in 2000 — was misinterpreted. Asked about Ovechkin later in the season, Gretzky said he liked him — he was the only player who ever scored a goal and blew him a kiss.

Ovechkin is horrified at the idea anyone, particularly Gretzky, would think that was what happened.

"He’s an idol — I’d never do that,” Ovechkin says. “Can you imagine if I score and do that? It’s not good. I’m not crazy.”

No, not crazy. He’s respectful and definitely unique — on and off the ice. Already in Vancouver for the NHL Awards Show last June, Ovechkin had his agent call McPhee to ask if he could meet the Caps’ draftees. McPhee went one better and had Ovechkin announce Washington’s first two picks before doing TV interviews with the team's top pick, Nicklas Backstrom. It was above and beyond what most professional athletes would do, but Ovechkin sees nothing special about it. McPhee says nothing surprises him when it comes to his star player.

“There are just no burdens for him,” McPhee says.

Ovechkin is willing to do the photo shoots, the events that come with being on the cover of the NHL 2007 video game and the extra interviews. He headlines a group of NHL players who joined Right to Play, an international charity that uses sports to help disadvantaged children. If he’s tired, he'll turn down a request, but otherwise he says, “Why not?”

Ovechkin has it all -- he even comes with built-in rivals (to the outside world more than to him) in Crosby and Crosby's new teammate Evgeni Malkin. And Ovechkin still hasn't fully evolved as a player. McPhee says Ovechkin will get even better when he adds more experience and learns to train harder and eat right. Kolzig thinks he can use his linemates better and improve on defense.

“It’s scary to think he could be better,” Kolzig says.

Are you listening there at NHL headquarters? This is your superstar. Don't mess it up. Take advantage of his personality and willingness to play the role.

“I want to be a superstar,” he says, “but people tell you you’re a superstar, and you’re like ‘Oh my God, people say I’m a superstar,’ and you stop working and you’ll never be the superstar.”

There’s little chance Ovechkin will fall short of superstar status. He is here, ready and extraordinarily able. He may be happy to be just one of the guys, but he is far from a mere member of the pack. He is the superstar with a smile. The best player in the league.

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