By: Michael Rudd | Follow me on Twitter @Bosmike808
As the Bruins get ready for next season, a few players have significant career milestones within their reach. Every player goes into a season with winning the cup as their focus. That doesn’t mean they don’t also have an eye on a little personal glory. Let’s look at who could be a little extra motivated in the upcoming 2022-23 regular season campaign.
Starting off the milestone list is David Pastrnak. Pasta is in a contract season and needs a pair of career highs, 60 goals to hit 300, and 96 points to hit 600. If Pastrnak can hit the more likely 96-point goal, he will be the 12th Bruin to score 600 points. Not to be outdone by his linemate Brad Marchand who is aiming to hit a few career milestones as well. Marchand is just five points short of becoming the seventh Bruin to score 800 points.
Marchand is also just 26 games away from reaching 900. This last milestone might be affected by Brad’s hip injury, but he is 56 assists away from 500 in his career. If Pasta has a shot at 60 goals, Marchand will likely have a significant role in that. Finishing off the “Perfection Line,” Bergeron is just 18 assists from 600 and 18 points from hitting a career-high of 1000. Bergeron would become just the fourth player to score 1000 points in a Bruins uniform.
Moving through the lineup Taylor Hall needs just 43 points to hit 700 for his career. Hall is also 39 games away from playing in his 800th game. Two impressive marks for the 2010 first overall pick. The return of David Krejci sees him just 38 games from playing his 1000th game. Krejci would become the seventh player to play 1000 games in Boston.
Krejci also needs 70 points to join the 800-point club with Marchand this season. Just starting on his career Milestone path Jake Debrusk is eight goals short of 100 as well as 16 assists short of 100. A little math, and he’s 24 points from 200 in his young career. A healthy season from Debrusk would also see him eclipse 400 games played as he sits 79 games away.
It’s not just the big names who have career marks in their sights. Charlie Coyle sits just 55 points shy of 400 after a bounce-back season. With a career-high of 56 points, it’s possible, especially if Krejci or Bergeron miss time. On to a player who needs a bounce-back year, Nick Foligno is just six assists short of 300 and a single point away from 500 for his career.
Craig Smith sits just shy of three career marks. Smith needs 11 more games for 800, nine more goals for 200, and just two points to hit 400. Finally, to the new face in the room Pavel Zacha. Another 2015 draft pick Zacha is just 14 games away from 400 and 21 points shy of hitting 200. Expect some friendly competition between him and Debrusk as both approach those accomplishments.
Now we move to the defensive side of the team. Charlie McAvoy won’t see action until December, but he only needs 22 points to hit the 200 mark. Hampus Lindholm, the big fish of the last trade deadline, is just eight games away from hitting 600. Lindholm is also 30 assists away from reaching 200. On to another Bruin whose season will be delayed because of injury, Matt Grzelcyk is just two points shy of 100 for his young career. Mike Reilly is also closing in on 100 points sitting just three away. The final milestone belongs to Linus Ullmark, who is 24 wins away from 100.
There you have it, a long, long list of career milestones being chased down this coming season. Which are you most excited to see? Which do you think will and won’t be surpassed? For those of you still reading this, here’s a little sneak preview for next time. In looking at all these milestones, there are top-10 franchise all-time list implications. That’s it for the teaser, so until then, stay safe out there and please check out some of our other excellent writers like this one.
Very well written article!