Sasha Barkov seems pretty young to be closing in on 700 NHL games, doesn't he?
Sasha Barkov seems pretty young to be closing in on 700 NHL games, doesn't he?
The Florida Panthers front office has done a great job in recent years building up a talented, competitive hockey team.
It’s a squad built of mostly players in the mid-to-late 20s with a mix of younger guys and veterans.
During the upcoming 2023-24 NHL season, there are a few Panthers players who are closing in on noteworthy milestones in terms of how long they’ve played in the best hockey league in the world.
The biggest number goes to defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, who is closing in on 900 career games in the NHL. His next game will be number 873 so he’s not that far off.
Newcomer Evan Rodrigues is only 15 games away from reaching 400 for his career.
Brandon Montour is 46 games away from reaching 500 in the NHL and based off Bill Zito’s recent update on the recovery of Montour’s shoulder injury, it seems reasonable to think he could hit that milestone sometime this season.
Sasha Barkov will hit 700 games played when he skates in his 36th game this season.
There are a plethora of Panthers players who are closing in on 200 career NHL games.
Ryan Lomberg needs to play in 18 more games to reach 200 while Josh Mahura is 39 games away from reaching the 200-game milestone.
Newly signed defenseman Niko Mikkola needs to play in 30 games this season to hit that same 200 mark, and fellow newbie Steven Lorentz needs to play in eight games to reach 200.
BONUS MILESTONES:
Florida's players aren't the only ones with milestones to look forward to next season.
Cats head coach Paul Maurice needs only 33 games hit 1,800 behind an NHL bench.
That night will come when Florida hosts the Vegas Golden Knights on Dec. 23, the final game before the league-wide holiday break kicks in.
Panthers radio play-by-play voice Doug Plagens is 25 games away from calling his 1,200th professional hockey game.
That includes contests he's called in the ECHL, AHL and NHL, both regular season and playoffs.
Plagens should hit his milestone on Dec. 6 when the Panthers host Dallas.
Both of these men, while hitting such major milestones in their respective careers, are still quite young to be doing so (Maurice is 56 and Plagens is 38), and there is no reason to think they won't continue to add to their impressive totals in seasons to come.