Cards on the table: me and Ian are milestone haters. I don’t know if it’s really all that special when a number ends in two zeroes. But in these grim times, toiling under the muddy boot of capitalism, we sometimes need excuses for celebrating. So I combed through some spreadsheets and found all the big serious milestones, as well as some dumb ones too.
Things that could happen this season.
- John Carlson hits 900 games. He’s 13 shy now, so he could hit the mark as soon as Saturday, November 5 against Arizona.
- Carlson hits 600 points. He needs just seven points.
- Carlson hits 200 power-play assists; he’s at 180 now.
- Nic Dowd hits 50 goals. He needs just five goals.
- Dowd hits 400 games. He is 29 short, so he should hit it against Seattle on Friday, December 9.
- Lars Eller hits 900 games. He’s currently at 870, so he could hit the milestone as early as Sunday, December 11 in Winnipeg.
- Eller hits 200 assists; he’s five shy right now.
- Martin Fehervary hits 100 games played. He’s at 85 now, so the milestone game could be against Pittsburgh on Wednesday, November 9.
- Carl Hagelin hits 300 career points. He needs just four, except he’s out indefinitely.
- Garnet Hathaway hits 400 games played. He has 373 now, so it could come as early as the early December roadtrip, around the 5th in Edmonton.
- Nick Jensen hits 100 career points. He’s at 91 now.
- I don’t know why you want to know this but Jensen’s 420th game should be on Saturday, November 5 against Arizona.
- Marcus Johansson hits 800 games played. He needs 47 more, so if he can stay in the lineup, pencil in Tuesday January 17 against Minnesota.
- Johansson is also 13 points shy of 420 career points. Again, I’m not sure why you think that’s a milestone, but okay.
- Darcy Kuemper’s very next game will be his 300th. So that’ll be… today.
- Also today: Evgeny Kuznetsov is about to play in his 600th game.
- Kuznetsov hits 500 points. He needs just four points.
- New goalie Charlie Lindgren has only faced 771 shots in his career. He should cross the 1000 line by midseason unless things go awry.
- Anthony Mantha hits 400 games as early as Tuesday, January 17 against Minnesota — 47 games from now. Thus it follows that he’d be at 420 games played on Saturday, March 11 in Brooklyn. Weird trivia that you asked me to give you, but I don’t judge.
- Connor McMichael is sitting at 69 games played, so I’m fine if he doesn’t play in the season opener. His next game will be his 70th.
- Dmitry Orlov hits 200 assists. He needs 20 assists, and he’s averaged well above that over the last few seasons.
- If Orlov stays in the lineup, he should play in his 700th career game as early as Thursday, February 16 against Florida.
- And if Orlov can match his goal total from last season, he’ll finish 2022-23 with 69 goals. Not a milestone per se, but you asked and I answered.
- Last thing on Orlov I swear: if things go right he could climb up fourteen points in plus/minus to catch the all-time Caps leader, Rod Langway.
- Alex Ovechkin hits 800 career goals once he scores his 20th of the season. The next goal after that will tie him with Gordie Howe at second place all-time.
- Ovechkin hits 1300 games played. The earliest he could do that is Saturday, December 3 in Calgary.
- As Niko pointed out, Ovechkin is also 149 shots short of the all-time NHL record.
- TJ Oshie is already at 900 games played. No milestones for him. Don’t be greedy.
- Conor Sheary hits 500 games. He needs to play in 51 games, so this could happen on Thursday, January 26 against Pittsburgh.
I’m sure there are other milestones. Ovi could become the guy who hit fifty goals the most ever, for example. Drop more in the comments if you’ve got em.
Also, I want to give a hearty shout-out to @casadoresdean, who dutifully tracks all this stuff and keeps us updated.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins
