When the St. Louis Blues’ battled the Minnesota Wild on Saturday afternoon, former New York Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy reached a career milestone.
Leddy, drafted 16th overall by his hometown Wild at the 2009 NHL Draft, skated in his 1,000th NHL game on Saturday when his St. Louis Blues battled the Minnesota Wild, becoming the 12th player to accomplish the feat this season and 394th overall.
Of his 1,000 games, 518 were in an Islanders uniform (2015-21). He recorded 45 goals and 198 assists, some of the best seasons of his career.
In 2016-17, Leddy notched career highs with 11 goals and 46 points while tying a career-best in assists with 35, set the year prior.
Among his lifetime accomplishments, he won the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013. He also guided the Islanders to the playoffs five times in seven seasons, contributing to their third-round appearances in 2020 and ‘21.
“Nick was one of my good buddies and will always be a great buddy of mine,” former Islanders defenseman and now analyst Thomas Hickey said. As good as he was on the ice, he’s a similar guy off the ice…and when you talk about on the ice, no one has that skating ability to get the puck out of trouble.
“I think everyone wishes they could move as well as deke, but I think his skating abilities are missed by any team that doesn’t have him, but he’s a guy that was everyone’s favorite teammate because he was always in a good mood soft-spoken, always smiling and looking to chat.”
Leddy, who earned an assist in the Blues' 5-4 overtime win over the Wild, joins Cal Clutterbuck, Jordan Eberle, and Kyle Okposo as players to have the Islanders on their silver sticks this season.