We all know the talents of Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon. He’s a Stanley Cup champion, a Hart Trophy winner, Ted Lindsay award winner, has a Calder Cup, and has also the Lady Byng trophy and a Memorial Cup.
If you ask literally anybody in the NHL, every single one of those people would tell you that MacKinnon is the best player in the league.
In fact, his Hart trophy win was following just last season. He’s on his way to potentially win another Hart, too.
It’s always a thrill to get to watch MacKinnon in an Avalanche sweater. He makes everyone around him better, including the likes of Martin Necas, who came over to Colorado in a trade with the Hurricanes for Mikko Rantanen. I’m excited to see who wins that trade in a couple of years, but early signs point towards the Avs winning, with the instant impact of Necas, and don’t forget Jack Drury, who hasn’t gotten as much attention as Necas, but he’s done well, too.
MacKinnon is also taking part in the NHL’s 4 Nations tournament, featuring Canada, the United States, Finland, and Sweden. Also representing Canada are Devon Toews and Cale Makar. Representing Finland are Arturri Lehkonen and Rantanen. I’d love to see Team Canada win, as it would also add to MacKinnon’s illustrious career.
But what else might MacKinnon have to accomplish to ensure his placement into the Hockey Hall of Fame?
Winning a gold medal at the Olympics
The Olympics are bringing the NHL and its talents with them in upcoming years. To be specific, plans are to have the sport happen in 2026 and 2030, the best two times that the Winter Olympics will be taking place.
By 2030, MacKinnon will be 35 years old, and on the backend of his career. By then, Avalanche fans hope that he has helped the team win several more Stanley Cup trophies, further making a case that he deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame at Brookfield Place, 30 Yonge Street, Toronto, Canada.
At the Olympics, MacKinnon would be paired with a team full of current NHL greats. It’s possible that his good buddy Sidney Crosby will be around still to potentially play alongside MacKinnon again. The same goes for Cale Makar, who is only 26-years-old right now. There’s plenty of hockey left for the two Avalanche stars, and who knows? Maybe by then, the team will have several other superstar players to play alongside each other at the Olympics.
Nathan MacKinnon on a quest to 1,000 Career Points
Once regular games get back underway on Saturday, February 22nd, Nathan MacKinnon will once again try to continue his pace to 1,000 career points. By Regular season’s end, he should be well past the milestone, and looking to reach greater heights. MacKinnon is at 986, just 14 away from being just the 100th player to accomplish this feat in NHL history.
The team in which MacKinnon has scored the most points against in his career is the Minnesota Wild, with 23 goals and 39 assists in 49 games. Assist-wise, his greatest success has also come against the Wild, with 39.
MacKinnon’s greatest plus-minus statistic is against the Dallas Stars at +22.
He has scored a ton of power play goals during his career. There are three teams in which he has scored the most power play goals against: San Jose Sharks, Arizona Coyotes, and St. Louis Blues, all at 7 power play goals. He has just 12 overtime goals in his career, a number in which I would love to see increased, but that doesn’t take away anything from his magnificent career.
Nathan MacKinnon on track to play in 1,000+ career games
I’ve always found it interesting to see what the Avalanche’s record is with and without certain players. I’ve talked about it when Valeri Nichushkin was ruled out for a while. So, why not touch on the same thing with Nathan MacKinnon?
The Avalanche have a record of 461-306-81 when MacKinnon is on the ice. Countering that, their record without him is 43-25-5. In all, that’s not even a full season’s worth of games missed, which is amazing to see.
Playing in the NHL is tough. Playing all 82 games in a season is definitely something that has to be commended. MacKinnon has done it four times in his career.
#29 has played in 848 games so far in his career. If he plays in every game here on out for the rest of this season, he’ll finish the year with 873 games played, which puts him at 127 games remaining.
If we take every game up until the end of MacKinnon’s current contract (not counting the rest of this season), he’ll have played 492 more games, putting him well-ahead of the 1,000 games goal. MacKinnon will turn 35 during his final year on his current deal. Will that mark the end of his amazing career? The only thing we can do is cherish what we have in him, and cross that bridge when we get there in 2030-31.
