+1 to the lady in the Christmas sweater. (Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images)

Last night, Marian Hossa became only the 85th player in NHL history to record 400 goals. The milestone goal came one day shy of the 13th anniversary of his first NHL goal,  December 9th, 1998 against Sean Burke and the Florida Panthers. In that game, Hossa had a goal and 2 assists, just like he did last night against Al Montoya and the Islanders.

Drafted #12 overall in 1997, Hossa spent his first 6 full seasons with the Ottawa Senators, recording a career high 45 goals in the 2002-2003 season. Hossa and a stacked Senators team reached the Eastern Conference final that season but lost in the 7th game to the New Jersey Devils who went on to win the Stanley Cup.

After the lockout, Hossa was unfortunately dealt to the Atlanta Thrashers just two days after signing a 3 year/ 18 million dollar contract with the Senators for Danny Heatley and Greg de Vries. Hossa perfomed well in Atlanta along with Ilya Kovalchuk, but the team was terrible and they made the playoffs just once in his two and a half seasons there. They were swept out.

The Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Hossa at the deadline during the 2007-2008 season for their Stanley Cup push. Hossa has a monster playoff playing with Sidney Crosby and notched 12 goals to go along with 14 assists in 20 postseason games. Pittsburgh lost in the Stanley Cup Finals to Detoilet in 6 games.

After losing  the Cup to  Detroit, Hossa joined them for one  season  that we’d  all like to forget about. His first goal in a Red Wings uniform was his 300th – an OT goal to beat the Rangers. After helping defeat the Blackhawks in Western Conference finals, Detroit lost to Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup finals . The supposed “Hossa Curse” was born and he left Detroit to sign a massive contract with the Blackhawks in the offseason. The rest is history.

Hossa becomes the 6th player to score his 400th goal in the Indianhead sweater – following Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Steve Larmer, Doug Gimore and Steve Thomas.

Casual fans know Marian Hossa for his obvious offensive talent, but the astute observer loves him for his dominance in all phases of the game. Hossa is a force on the forecheck, a master puck protector, a back-checking machine and a penalty killing specialist. If he were a Center, he would be a Selke nominee most seasons and it’s bullshit that he doesn’t get the defensive accolades around the league that he deserves. I cannot think of a player the Blackhawks have had since the 1990′s who’s game comes close to his with the exception of Jonathan Toews, who is a legend in his own right. Out of town fans pan him for being a selfish mercenary. Is there a single moment in his Blackhawks career which you thought Hossa was being a selfish player? He works his ass off out night in and night out and does the dirty work which superstars like him aren’t often asked or expected to do. Every now and again you will get some asshole complaining about the size of Hossa’s contract, if you encounter one of these people, you should feel free to let them know what a moron he or she is.

The quest for his 500th will begin Sunday night against the San Jose Sharks at United Center.