On Monday evening in Seattle, Calgary Flames captain Mikael Backlund assisted on Rasmus Andersson’s overtime game-winner over the Kraken. The assist represented Backlund’s 500th point with the Flames.
Backlund joins a pretty exclusive group of players that have registered 500 points with the franchise.
The 500 point club
Here are the elite 11, in order of career points with the Flames (as of the end of play on Monday):
- Jarome Iginla – 1,095 points
- Theoren Fleury – 830 points
- Al MacInnis – 822 points
- Joe Nieuwendyk – 616 points
- Johnny Gaudreau – 609 points
- Gary Suter – 564 points
- Kent Nilsson – 562 points
- Guy Chouinard – 529 points
- Mark Giordano – 509 points
- Gary Roberts – 505 points
- Mikael Backlund – 500 points
Of the 11 members of the 500 point club, three are defencemen and eight are forwards.
Nine of the 11 were Flames draft selections – Iginla was acquired via trade and Giordano was a free agent signing.
Seven are Canadian, two are Swedish and two are Americans.
Five of the 11 served as captain of the Flames at some point – four of those five reached 500 points while they were captain.
Two of the 11 players – Chouinard and Nilsson – spent time in Atlanta. The remainder were exclusively Calgary players.
The club, in chronological order
- Guy Chouinard: January 12, 1983 at Vancouver (scored a goal)
- Kent Nilsson: December 1, 1984 at Minnesota North Stars (scored a goal)
- Al MacInnis: March 3, 1991 vs. Minnesota North Stars (assisted on a goal by Theoren Fleury)
- Gary Suter: December 23, 1992 at Winnipeg (assisted on a goal by Paul Ranheim)
- Joe Nieuwendyk: October 17, 1993 at Anaheim (scored a goal)
- Theoren Fleury: March 31, 1995 at Edmonton (scored a goal)
- Gary Roberts: March 15, 1996 at Buffalo (scored a goal)
- Jarome Iginla: March 27, 2004 vs. Los Angeles (assisted on a goal by Chris Simon)
- Mark Giordano: April 4, 2021 vs. Toronto (assisted on a goal by Joakim Nordstrom)
- Johnny Gaudreau: October 23, 2021 at Washington (assisted on a goal by Elias Lindholm)
- Mikael Backlund: November 20, 2023 at Seattle (assisted on a goal by Rasmus Andersson)
Fastest to 500
Here’s how long it took each player to reach 500 points:
- Kent Nilsson: 372 games
- Joe Nieuwendyk: 473 games
- Theoren Fleury, 475 games
- Guy Chouinard – 479 games
- Al MacInnis: 515 games
- Johnny Gaudreau: 527 games
- Gary Suter: 547 games
- Gary Roberts: 576 games
- Jarome Iginla, 623 games
- Mikael Backlund: 926 games
- Mark Giordano: 932 games
What do you think has been the most memorable of Mikael Backlund’s 500 points with the Flames so far? Let us know in the comments!
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