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8 major NHL records, milestones to watch for during the 2022-23 season

Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares scored the 400th goal of his NHL career against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. (Getty Images)
Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares scored the 400th goal of his NHL career against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. (Getty Images)

Written by Compose.ly Staff

The 2022-23 NHL season has set the stage for several records to be broken. Here are the NHL records and milestones to watch for.

Goals

The Great 8 to 800

Alex Ovechkin (788) is 12 goals away from becoming only the third player in NHL history to score 800 goals. Only Wayne Gretzky (894) and Gordie Howe (801) have scored more, and Ovechkin can overtake the latter if he scores 20 more times. At 37 years old, the Washington Capitals captain has shown no signs of slowing down and is coming off a 50-goal season.

Stammer eyeing 500

Steven Stamkos (489) needs 11 more goals to reach the 500 mark. The Tampa Bay Lightning captain set a personal scoring record in the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs with 19 points in 23 games (11 goals, eight assists). The 32-year-old holds the record for the highest number of goals and points by a player born in the 1990s.

Kessel and Tavares to Club 400

Vegas Golden Knights forward Phil Kessel (402) and Toronto Maple Leafs center John Tavares (400) are the newest members of Club 400.

Points

Mount 1,500

With 1,424 career points to his name, Ovechkin is right at the top among the current crop of players. A repeat of last year’s 90-point season would take the Russian to the 1,500 mark and bring him into the top-15 all-time.

Just ahead of him is Sidney Crosby. The Pittsburgh Penguins center, the youngest captain to ever win the Stanley Cup, is at 1,426 points as of this writing.

Race to 1,000

It's a tight race, with five players aiming to breach the 1,000-point mark. Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron (997) needs only three, and behind him are Stamkos (989), Kessel (963), Dallas Stars forward Joe Pavelski (943) and Ottawa Senators forward Claude Giroux (940).

Games

1,000 games played

Minnesota Wild defender Alex Goligoski and New York Islanders forward Josh Bailey hit the milestone earlier this season, while Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin, Tavares, St. Louis Blues center Ryan O'Reilly and Stamkos are each within striking distance of the 1000-game mark and could all reach it at various points this season.

Iron Man Kessel

Kessel, who hasn't missed an NHL game since 2009, surpassed Keith Yandle's Iron Man record by appearing in his 990th consecutive game on Oct. 25. He is set to become the first NHL player ever to appear in 1,000 consecutive games when the Golden Knights take on the Arizona Coyotes on Nov. 17.

Goalie stuff

Fleury of wins

Marc-André Fleury (526) needs 25 more wins this season to become the second-winningest goalie in NHL history. The Minnesota Wild goalie is right behind hockey greats Patrick Roy (551) and Martin Brodeur (691).

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