New York Islanders captain John Tavares is closing in on a mark very few NHLers have ever reached: skating with a 500th different linemate in his career.
Tavares, 26, is sitting on 499 all time linemates right now, and the next time Islanders coach Jack Capuano shuffles his lines and puts a new player next to his top center, Tavares will achieve the rarely-seen 500 winger milestone in only 520-plus career games.
While Tavares admits he hasn’t thought a lot about the parade of players that have lined up next to him over the last seven years, he is cognizant of his unique place in NHL history and is quick to heap praise on the many, many, many, many teammates that have played with him.