Leafs captain discusses impressive milestone
It seems like just yesterday, Leafs captain John Tavares was being welcomed home to Toronto as a free agent. Now, just under 5 years later, Tavares, is only 4 games away from the illustrious mark of 1,000 at the NHL level. If he remains healthy, he'll reach that mark this week when Toronto plays host to the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Tavares will be just the 378th player in NHL history to reach that mark and it has actually caught him by surprise as well. Following practice on Monday, he was quoted as saying:
-Tavares on reaching 1000 NHL games
Tavares was drafted with the first overall pick at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Islanders, whom, coincidentally, the Leafs are set to face-off against tonight. He spent 9 seasons on Long Island, where he scored 272 goals and 621 points in 669 games. He reached the 20-goal plateau in all 9 seasons in Long Island and didn't score less than 24 goals in any of them.
While on the Islanders in 2012-13, Tavares helped his team finally get past the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 1992-93. They had made the playoffs only 5 times between 1993-2011. He then signed with the Maple Leafs in the summer of 2018 and has scored 139 goals and 319 points in 327 games.
He served as captain for 5 seasons in New York and was named captain of the Maple Leafs ahead of their season opener in 2019 - the first captain in 3 seasons for the Buds.
1,000 games is a huge milestone for any NHL player and Tavares looks to further cement himself in the history books in what he hopes is a very long and successful career. The Maple Leafs are hoping this is the year they break their first round curse and if Tavares was able to help the Islanders back in 2012-13, maybe he can finally succeed at doing the same in Toronto this year.
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 23 | 152 ANSWERS Leafs captain discusses impressive milestone How many games will Tavares have played before he finishes his NHL career? | ||
| 1,300 or less | 39 | 25.7 % |
| 1,301-1,400 | 51 | 33.6 % |
| 1,401-1,500 | 37 | 24.3 % |
| More than 1,500 | 25 | 16.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
