Maple Leafs’ John Tavares scores 500th career goal vs. Blue Jackets

Toronto Maple Leafs forward John Tavares reached a major career milestone on Tuesday, scoring his 500th career goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Tavares scored goal number 499 on Saturday in overtime to give Toronto a 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres, setting himself up to get halfway to 1000 in due time.

With Wednesday’s marker, Tavares now has 228 goals as a Maple Leaf, two away from tying Ted Kennedy for 12th on Toronto’s all-time scoring list. He is tied with former Toronto forward Lanny McDonald for 48th on the NHL’s all-time goalscoring list, as one of just 49 players to score 500 through his career. Among active players, only four others have hit the mark–Alex Ovechkin (899), Sidney Crosby (633), Steven Stamkos (583), and Evgeni Malkin (517). Patrick Kane isn’t far from the milestone either, currently sitting at 494.

Playing in his 17th NHL season, and seventh as a Maple Leaf, Tavares’ continued production is a testament to the consistency and longevity of his career. Excluding the shortened 2020-21 COVID season, the Mississauga native has never tallied fewer than 24 goals in a season, continuing to put up strong numbers late in his career. Last season alone, he scored 38 through 75 games played, tied for the second-most in a single season of his career. As a whole, Tavares has 500 goals and 628 assists for 1128 points through 1195 career games played with the New York Islanders and the Maple Leafs.

Tavares now has six goals through 11 games on the year, on pace to potentially beat his career-high 47 goals in a season, set back in the 2018-19 campaign. He’s over a point-per-game so far, with 14 total in 11 appearances. Playing in the first year of his new team-friendly deal signed last summer, with an annual cap hit of $4.38 million over the next four seasons, the homegrown skater is continuing to show his value and cement his place as one of the greats of the game late in his career.