Milestone Watch: Mats Sundin

What a great performance from Mats last night. Truly amazing. The guy is playing the best hockey of his career right now, and looks to be absolutely loving the extra ice-time under Maurice. Good for him!

Now, I was going to post a Milestone Watch today, mentioning that Mats was closing in on 500 goals, but of course, he had to go ahead and blow it... ;-)

So here it is, a little late of course:

Career Milestones:

500 Goals: He achieved this on Saturday, October 14 in just about the most exciting way possible in the regular season. Hat-trick, short-handed, in OT to win it past arguably the best keeper in the league in Kiprusoff. Nice. He joins only 34 others in NHL history to score 500 goals.

700 Assists: He is 15 short of this mark as of today. Only 42 other players in NHL history have recorded more assists than Mats.

1200 Points: He is just 15 points short of this mark as well, something only 41 other NHLers have managed to accomplish. It is highly probable that Mats will be in the top 30 all-time for points by the end of this season.

Points-Per-Game: Right now, Mats has a career points-per-game average of 1.02, the same number as Darryl Sittler, and #29 on the all-time list (only retired players, so guys like Jagr and Sakic will obviously be on there as well when they retire). This leads us into our second section, Leaf records.

Leaf Milestones:

389 Goals: This is the magic number, the most goals scored by any player while in a Leafs uniform. The record is currently held by Darryl Sittler, but Mats now has 365, tied with Dave Keon for second all-time. At his current pace, Mats will eclipse Darryl sometime in February of 2007.

916 Points: Mats has 841 points as a Leaf, needing 75 more points to tie Darryl Sittler for first on the points list as well. 75 more points would give Mats 83 for the season, which looks to be well within his reach given the way he is playing and with how well he and Kyle Wellwood have gelled so far. This will be a nice late-season treat, hopefully along with a playoff birth.

Length of Captaincy: Mats is entering his 9th season as Leafs captain, third all-time behind George Armstrong (12 years) and Hap Day (10 years).

There you have it. Should be a great ride, keep it up Mats!