Curtis McElhinney will get his first start of the season for the Maple Leafs on Wednesday night, drawing the assignment against the Detroit Red Wings for what will be Patrick Marleau’s 1,500th NHL game. “It’s really hard,” Babcock said of the backup’s habit of playing when the team is tired. “At the same time, it’s a great job. You’re in the NHL every day, you’re a good guy, you practise hard, you’re a good teammate. But it looks like a pretty good job to me.”Marleau is the 18th player to hit 1,500 career games, breaking a tie with Mike Modano, who stalled at 1,499.

Source: thestar October 18, 2017 17:15 UTC