Marleau to play 1,500th career game
Patrick Marleau is on the verge of a major milestone.
The veteran forward will appear in his 1,500th regular-season game Wednesday when the Toronto Maple Leafs face the Detroit Red Wings.
He sits 18th all time in games played and third all time among active players behind Jaromir Jagr (1,714) and Jarome Iginla (1,554), who's technically still active but remains a free agent.
Now in his 20th season, and first with the Leafs after leaving the San Jose Sharks over the summer, Marleau has 1,087 points in his 1,499 contests, and he's been remarkably durable throughout his career.
Patrick Marleau has missed only 31 of 1530 available games since breaking into #NHL.
— Dave McCarthy (@DaveAMcCarthy) October 18, 2017
Played in 98% of available games. #TMLTalk #Leafs
The 38-year-old hasn't missed a regular-season game since 2008-09, and he was absent from only 10 contests in the last 10 campaigns entering this season.
If Marleau plays out his three-year contract with Toronto, he could conceivably move into the top five on the NHL's all-time games played list.
He hasn't slowed down from a production standpoint despite his advanced age, either. Marleau scored twice in the Leafs' season-opening win over the Winnipeg Jets and has five points in six games this fall.