2018-19 Boston Bruins Milestone Watch

You can ask any player in the NHL about the game and they’ll tell you it’s a team sport. When you watch post-game interviews, Stanley Cup celebrations, or award acceptance speeches you hear one common theme: the team. Players will go so far to recognize the guys around them and not make it about themselves, no matter how great their individual performance was. Hockey players are some of the most humble athlete’s on the planet and what I’m about to write below will probably mean nothing to all of them. But here goes anyway: Let’s take a look at some personal milestones that players on the Boston Bruins could reach during the 2018–19 season.

Zdeno Chara — 200 Goals

If he can tally five goals this season, Chara will become the 22nd defenseman in NHL history to score 200 goals in his career. I don’t think he won’t reach the mark, however, his production has dipped over the last few seasons, which means he could narrowly miss the 200 goal mark this season. Of his 195 career goals, 92 have come on the power play, which proves how valuable he was on the man advantage when he saw a lot of power play time. With the emergence of guys like Torey Krug and Charlie McAvoy, Chara has seen his power play time slip a ton. That could hamper his chance at 200, but I’ve got a good feeling he’ll reach the mark this season despite what should be less playing time. The B’s captain has spent a majority of his career in black and gold and has scored 138 of his 195 goals while with the Bruins.

Patrice Bergeron — 300 Goals & 800 Points

Bergeron currently sits sixth on the all-time Bruins goals list with 289. He’ll become just the sixth man to score 300 goals with the Bruins when he tallies his 11th goal this season. He’ll join a pretty exclusive club that includes Johnny Bucyk, Phil Esposito, Rick Middleton, Ray Bourque, and Cam Neely. Bergy also has a shot to reach 800 points this season if he can pick up 66 points. If he can stay healthy all season long it should be do-able for him, but he’ll need one of the best offensive seasons of his career for it to happen.

Tuukka Rask — Bruins All-Time Wins Lead & Career Starts

Due to the hate he recieves year in and year out in Boston, some may not believe me when I say that Tuukka Rask has a chance to become the all-time goalie wins leader in Boston Bruins history. Rask needs just 15 wins this season to surpass Tiny Thompson as the winningest goalie in Bruins history. He also needs just 20 starts to pass Thompson as the goalie with the most career starts for the Bruins. Say what you want about Rask, but he’s proven himself as one of the greatest goalies the Bruins have ever had. He may not have had a tremendous amount of success, but he’s given this team many wins and many chances to succeed, whether folks want to believe that or not.

David Krejci — 400 Assists

Krejci is just four assists away from reaching the 400 mark in his career. With his offensive ability and his terrific passing game, he should hit the mark before the end of the first month of the season. If he gets off to a great start, he’ll be there by the end of the first week. The Czech winger sits just six assists behind Terry O’Reilly for 8th all-time in team history. So unless he misses all of next season, expect Krejci to reach a few milestones during the 2018–19 campaign.

Brad Marchand — 500 points

Marchand needs just 41 points to hit the half century mark for his career. With the way he’s performed over the last few seasons, he should be there by the middle of the 2018–19 season. If he remains healthy all season long he’ll easily reach the 500 point mark and will jump from 20th to 14th on the teams all-time points list. Marchand is just a couple of solid seasons of production away from becoming one of the highest scoring players in the history of the black and gold. Not too bad for a guy who had to scratch and claw just to get a spot on the fourth line nine years ago.

Kevin Maggiore (@kevin_maggiore)