Dallas Stars: Player Career Milestones To Watch For Over the Next Month

The Dallas Stars celebrated a milestone early in the season, with Jamie Benn earning his 600th career point.

It’s not the only milestone on the horizon for the Dallas Stars in the next few weeks.

Benn getting 600 points is a big accomplishment, and he’s only the fifth player in Stars history to do so. However, he’s obviously been playing longer than some of the younger players.

For the young guys, both Esa Lindell and Brett Ritchie could hit 50 points this month. Ritchie is at 48 while Lindell is at 47. That’s not a high points per game number for either of them over their careers, though certainly more understandable from Lindell, but it’s still something they can celebrate.

More from Blackout Dallas

• Dallas Stars Traverse City Tournament: Who had great performances?
• Grushnikov and Stankoven lead Dallas Stars to 6-3 win over Columbus
• Dallas Stars prospects look to wrap up tournament with a win
• Burn the tapes: Dallas Stars prospects lose 5-1 to Toronto Maple Leafs
• Dallas Stars look to continue success today against the Maple Leafs

Ritchie is also close to 200 games played, and if he plays every game between now and then, he’ll hit it on November 1 when the Stars are in Toronto.

The most noteworthy milestone watch right now for the young players on the team is a pair of first goals waiting to happen. Both Roope Hintz and Miro Heiskanen are looking for their first NHL goals, and with how they’ve been playing, they’ll likely come sooner rather than later. Heiskanen almost had his on a great shot on Tuesday against the Maple Leafs, but was stopped by Frederik Andersen.

Some of the veterans are looking at a few upcoming milestones as well. Alexander Radulov is at 95 goals right now, and it’s hard to imagine him not hitting 100 in the next few weeks with how he’s been playing so far this season. He’s been an outstanding offensive presence on the Stars since signing in Dallas.

Tyler Seguin is sitting at 593 games played, so he should hit his 600th game against Detroit on October 28. Roman Polak will hit 700 games two games later, the same night as Ritchie would hit 200, if he stays in the line-up until then. With all three potentially hitting milestones on the same road trip, the Stars will likely do something to acknowledge them when they get back from the road trip on November 8.

Anton Khudobin is at 147 games played, so he’ll break 150 soon, especially with two pairs of back-to-back games in the next few weeks.

Jason Spezza‘s at 890 points right now, and if the power play keeps producing like they have, he could hit 900, but he’s got a much bigger milestone coming up.

In Montreal on October 30, Jason Spezza should hit hit 1000th game played. Unfortunately, it’s just two weeks too late for him to play the game while in Ottawa, which would be very fitting, but it’s a huge accomplishment.

Traditionally, the milestone has been honored with a silver stick awarded in a pre-game ceremony. There is also a gold stick awarded for 500 goals, but barring some absolutely unfathomable chaos, that won’t be handed out to any Stars players this season, as the closest player to it is Spezza with 324 goals.

Spezza won’t be the first Stars player to hit the milestone, with 38 different players in the 1000-game club having spent time with the franchise. Mike Modano is the only player to have 1000 games with just the Stars, and actually retired with 1,499, just one short of another major milestone. He actually sits at 19th in league history, though he could fall as far as 22nd by the end of the season, as Joe Thornton, Matt Cullen, and Zdeno Chara are all in striking distance.

One thing that won’t be happening in the next month: Martin Hanzal finally getting his 667th game to get away from the ominous 666 he’s been sitting at. Hopefully, he’ll see 700 this season, but take the 666 combined with his injury as you will.