Jaromir Jagr and Jarome Iginla rank among players eyeing impressive milestones next season

James O'Brien

Aug 30, 2011, 4:57 PM EDT

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It’s probably safe to say that every player in the NHL will go into the 2011-12 season with a list of goals. Some of the players will keep things a bit vague or just have an eye on the Stanley Cup while others might the be obsessive types to have an actual number of goals or points in mind.

John Kreiser of NHL.com details some of the biggest milestones that players can reach next season. Here are a few of the marks that stand out as especially interesting.

1,000 assists: Jaromir Jagr has a decent chance of becoming the 12th player in NHL history to get more than a thousand assists. He needs 47 to cross that mark, which isn’t too far-fetched; Jagr had 46 in his most recent campaign in 07-08.

500 goals: Jarome Iginla needs 16 goals to reach that rare milestone. It’s hard to imagine him falling short of that mark unless he gets injured. Daniel Alfreddson (389) and Marian Hossa (388) are on the verge of 400.

300 goalie wins: Evgeni Nabokov has 293 while Miikka Kiprusoff has 276, so both have a strong chance at reaching 300 W’s. Tomas Vokoun (262) and Jose Theodore (260) might have a shot if they have outstanding seasons, too.

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Naturally, Kreiser’s list made me wonder if there are some other interesting milestones/historically interesting stat scenarios for next season. Here are some more situations to watch, with help from hockey-reference’s milestones section.

Points

Vincent Lecavalier (793) is seven points away from the 800-point threshold while his teammate Martin St. Louis only needs 22 to join him there. Dany Heatley, Alex Tanguay, Chris Pronger, Steve Sullivan, Vinny Prospal and Scott Gomez are within striking distance of 700 points.

Jagr needs 42 points to pass Joe Sakic’s 1,641 points for eighth all-time in scoring. Mike Modano could climb quite a few all-time points ranks of his own if he opts to player another season:

15. Bryan Trottier – 1,425
16. Adam Oates – 1,420
17. Doug Gilmour – 1,414
18. Dale Hawerchuk – 1,409
19. Jari Kurri – 1,398
20. Luc Robitaille – 1,394
21. Brett Hull – 1,391
22. Modano – 1,374

It seems like a leap to imagine Modano scoring 52 points next season, but it’s at least in the realm of possibility if he plays again … right? If nothing else, 20th place seems perfectly possible.

Goals

Teemu Selanne and Jagr might slightly affect the way people view their goal scoring genius this season (if Selanne plays, that is). Take a look at where they rank all time in goals scored.

10. Luc Robitaille – 668
11. Brendan Shanahan – 656
12. Jaromir Jagr – 646
13. Dave Andreychuk – 640
14. Teemu Selanne – 637

With that list in mid, Jagr should have three statistical objectives next season: 22 goals (to move to 10th-all time in goals), 46 assists (to reach 1,000 overall) and 42 points (to pass Sakic for eighth all-time). Another Selanne season would almost certainly allow him to move past Andreychuk and likely past Shanahan as well. An especially good one might even leave him in the top 10, depending on how Jagr fares.

Modano could move up the career list, too. He’s currently at 561, good for 23rd all-time. Four more goals would put him ahead of Mats Sundin and Joe Nieuwendyk while 13 more would place him 20th overall ahead of Mike Bossy.

Assists

Joe Thornton is five assists away from 700 all-time.

As far as all-time numbers are concerned, Jagr (953 assists) needs four assists to pass Mark Recchi (13th place) and 14 to pass Doug Gilmour for 12th. He’d have to put together an awesome 64-assist season to pass 11th place Joe Sakic, who has 1,016 assists. Nicklas Lidstrom is 45 assists from the 900 mark and could move up the ranks quite a bit.

18. Trottier – 901
19. Phil Housley – 894
20. Hawerchuk – 891
21. Phil Esposito – 873
22. Denis Savard – 865
23. Lidstrom – 855

Goalie wins

Nikolai Khabibulin and Roberto Luongo can inch up the all-time wins list.

17. Gump Worsley – 335
18. Harry Lumley – 330
19. Sean Burke – 324
20. Khabibulin – 316
21. Luongo – 308

Roggie Vachon’s 16th-ranked 355 wins would probably be out of reach until next season, unless Khabibulin has an outstanding season.

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After looking at this list, here are a few stray thoughts.

One can only imagine where Jagr might rank in NHL history if he didn’t make an exodus for the KHL.
Modano probably should hang up his skates, but if he doesn’t he could move up history’s ranks.
Luongo is only 32 years old. If he stays reasonably healthy, he should be able to pass Chris Osgood’s 401 wins and be in the top 10 all-time in victories by the end of his career. It’s not even crazy to wonder if he could reach the 450-win mark and end up among in the top five.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this extended look at the milestones and potential historical impacts of the 2011-12 season. Are you getting excited for the return of hockey yet?

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