"Sergei Gonchar phoned a friend in Russia to see if the guy wanted to attend his 1,000th NHL game Tuesday at Scotiabank Place.

"He said, 'already 1,000?' " Gonchar laughed. "Believe me, it seems like those 1,000 games just flew by. It seems I just got to the NHL and started playing. It's an achievement I'm probably going to be proud of."

Gonchar, who has played eight of those games in a Senators jersey, made his NHL debut Feb. 7, 1995 in Buffalo.

"I was called up from the Portland Pirates," said Gonchar, a Capitals prospect at the time. "I remember it was a tight game, 2-1 or 1-0 ... a very defensive style at that time. I just remember it was a great feeling. Obviously when I was growing up, I never dreamed about playing in the NHL. As a Russian guy, at that time, you were only dreaming about playing for the local pro team, maybe the national team if you were good enough. And then I got drafted. I came over here and everything happened so quickly. I was amazed, and very happy, obviously."

Now 36, Gonchar would like nothing more than to participate in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, which means he'll probably be looking for one more contract after his present, three-year deal with the Senators expires. Maybe he'll drink from the fountain of youth between now and then.

Thus far, Gonchar has not had the expected impact with the Senators. He has no goals, four assists and a minus-5 rating, plus he's been guilty of defensive zone turnovers veterans of his calibre are not supposed to make.

Some have suggested he's looking old, which is an observation that's also been generally made of the 2-5-1 Senators.

The players on the roster they'll go with Tuesday have an average age of 28.4 years. When Jason Spezza, Filip Kuba and Pascal Leclaire return from the injured list and replace Zack Smith, Brian Lee and Robin Lehner, they'll once again be one of the older teams in the NHL. What does that mean? Who knows. The oldest team is the Red Wings, and they're also one of the best."