Hockey history was made on Monday night, and whether you follow the NHL as a whole or just the Avalanche, it was and is something to marvel. San Jose Sharks forward Patrick Marleau played in his 1,768th game, moving him past Gordie Howe and into first place in the league’s annals.
It’s a shame that Mr. Hockey wasn’t here to see it.
Every game Marleau plays between now and the end of the season will add to this incredible accomplishment, and it isn’t just the end total that’s impressive. As of Monday, the 41-year-old had played in 899 consecutive matches—nearly 11 straight seasons worth—and is set to become just the fourth player to have ever skated in 900 consecutive contests, behind Doug Jarvis (964), Garry Unger (914) and Keith Yandle (912).
If that isn’t mind-blowing enough, the Swift Current native has only missed 31 games in 24 years and he achieved the top spot in 10 fewer seasons than Howe.
Drafted second overall by the Sharks in 1997, Marleau is the third oldest player in the NHL, behind Zdeno Chara and Joe Thornton, respectively, and has skated in 1,596 games with the club that selected him. By the time he faces the Avalanche—which is scheduled for April 30—he’ll have become the second player (behind Howe again) to feature in 1,600 contests with a single franchise.
Joe Sakic only reached 1,378 games with the Avs—sorry, Rangers—after 20 years and that’s good for 47th on the all-time list.
In honor of Marleau’s achievement, here are some numbers to put this feat in perspective with the Avalanche:
- Marleau made his NHL debut on Oct. 1, 1997. There are 171 current players who hadn’t been born as of that date, including five members of the Avs: Conor Timmins, Cale Makar, Samuel Girard, Bowen Byram, and Tyson Jost.
- In 1997, Peter Forsberg was on the cover of the NHL 98 video game, which came out on Aug. 31. The game was released on the Nintendo 64 which was nearly one year old at the time. This makes Marleau one of three players, along with Chara and Thornton, to have been featured on the N64.
- Marleau has participated in 70.5 percent of San Jose’s regular-season games and has played with or against over 3,000 NHLers, more than one third of those to have ever laced up the skates. The Avalanche has fielded a squad for 1,965 matches to date, which means Marleau wasn’t around for just 197 of them.
- While Sakic currently sits 390 contests behind Marleau, his 1,641 points (625 goals, 1,016 assists) rank him ninth in NHL history. Marleau sits 50th with 1,196 points (566 goals, 630 assists).
- Colorado Captain Gabriel Landeskog has skated in 674 contests or about just 38 percent of Marleau’s total. Only when combining Landeskog’s totals with that of current teammates Erik Johnson (577) and Nathan MacKinnon (564) do you get enough games (1,815) to surpass Marleau’s number.
- Marleau’s 1,768 games are fewer than Landeskog’s 1,836 career shots but more than Forsberg’s 1,462 attempts (in only 591 games).
- MacKinnon (548), Landeskog (501), Mikko Rantanen (302), and Johnson (213) have fewer combined points (1,564) than the Sharks forward’s contest total.
- When it comes to penalty minutes, Dale Hunter (1,562) and Cody McLeod (1,359) are two of the franchise’s Top 3 troublemakers. Neither has more PIMs than Marleau’s games total.