Columbus Blue Jackets’ forward Charlie Coyle reflects on his journey across NHl as he reaches 1000-game milestone

Charlie Coyle will skate in his 1,000th NHL game tonight as the Columbus Blue Jackets host the Dallas Stars at the Nationwide Arena. With this feat he will join a very exclusive club that represents everything the veteran forward has worked toward since childhood.

The milestone caps a 14-year professional career that has taken the Weymouth, Massachusetts, native from Minnesota to Boston to Colorado and now to Ohio. Coyle's path to four digits wasn't defined by early stardom or guaranteed success but rather the determination to work through anything.

Charlie Coyle believes consistency and adaptability helped him reach the 1000-game mark

The game against the Stars will mark Coyle as the sixth player from the 2010 draft class to reach 1,000 games and the fifth to play his milestone game in a Blue Jackets uniform, following Sergei Fedorov, Vinny Prospal, Scott Hartnell, and Jakub Voracek.

For a player originally drafted 28th overall by San Jose before being traded to Minnesota, the achievement carries added weight. When asked about the journey to 1,000 games, Coyle pointed to where it all began.

"It starts when you're younger, where you fall in love with the game, and you want to play as long as possible," he said. "So then you make it to this stage and you're happy, but you want more and you want to keep playing and prolong your career, so that's all I've tried to do."

The forward has posted 199 goals and 316 assists for 515 points across 999 games with four different organizations. His career took him from six seasons in Minnesota through nearly seven years in Boston, a brief stop in Colorado, and now his first season in Columbus.

So far, he's contributed 10 goals and 30 points in 49 games while centering the Blue Jackets' third line. Coyle's perspective on the milestone reflects the workmanlike mentality that got him there in the first place. Rather than treating 1,000 games as a final destination, he views it simply as another step in a career he hopes continues.

"Yeah, it's a big milestone, but it's another game along the way of playing more hockey, which is what I love, what we all love," Coyle said. "So I just want to keep doing that as long as I can."

The timing of the achievement comes as Columbus fights to stay relevant in the Eastern Conference playoff race. The Blue Jackets sit in seventh in the Metropolitan Division with 51 points but remain just seven points out of a wild card spot.

With new head coach Rick Bowness behind the bench and 33 games remaining, veterans like Coyle will need to lead if Columbus wants to end its five-year playoff drought and make the milestone game the start of something bigger.


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