Tonight is going to be Coach Bruce Boudreau's 200th game coaching Washington, and I do hope that he celebrates it with a nice big shiny W.  But he is not the only person with an upcoming huge important milestone to be celebrated.

Most of these involve teams that are not the Capitals, but they are still significant accomplishments that I wanted to point out.  These folks should be awfully darned proud of their accomplishments.

*  Jarome Iginla (Calgary Flames) plays his 1,000th career NHL game on Friday when the Flames take on the Florida Panthers.

* Daymond Langkow (Calgary Flames) will follow suit and play his 1,000th career NHL game on Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

I am genuinely impressed with the Iginla and Langkow markers.  1,000 NHL games is a huge milestone, and only 248 players in the history of the NHL have ever crossed that mark (of the 5,888 players listed on NHL.com).  Mark Recchi of the Boston Bruins has played in 1,544 games to date, and has the most games of any active player in the NHL today; the closest to him is Rod Brind'Amour of the Carolina Hurricanes, with 1,459.

* Lubomir Visnovsky (Edmonton Oilers) will play his 600th career NHL game tonight against the Minnesota Wild.


* Evgeni Nabokov (San Jose Sharks) has 49 career shutouts, and will try for #50 tonight against the St. Louis Blues.

* Marty Reasoner (Atlanta Thrashers) will play his 500th career NHL game on Friday against the Washington Capitals.

* Teemu Selanne (Anaheim Ducks) is four goals shy of 600 for his career.

* Mike Modano (Dallas Stars) is three assists shy of 800 for his career.

* Alex Ovechkin is three points shy of 500 for his career - this one's been pointed out before.   When he gets those three points, he will be in rarified air, joining Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Peter Stastny, Mike
Bossy, Dale Hawerchuk, Bryan Trottier, Denis Savard and Jari Kurr and becoming the ninth player - and the only currently-active player - to reach the 500 point mark in five seasons in the NHL.


Good job to everyone reaching a milestone soon!