On Tuesday night in Vancouver, that group grew to 111 when Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester dressed for his 1,200th career NHL game and became the fifth active player to reach the mark, joining San Jose's Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton, Boston's Zdeno Chara and Arizona's Marian Hossa.

ST. LOUIS - More than 7,900 players have suited up for at least one NHL game. Of that group, only 110 have ever dressed in 1,200 or more.

"As you get older, you appreciate those sorts of milestones and things like that," Bouwmeester told stlouisblues.com. "One thousand games is a big number - it doesn't seem that long ago. I'm proud to have been able to play in St. Louis and to (reach 1,200 games) with the Blues, I'm happy with that."

"You realize that the end is a lot closer to the beginning, and you see a lot of guys you played with that aren't playing anymore," Bouwmeester added. "Personally, I still feel pretty good."

Video: Jay Bouwmeester, players on 1,200 games milestone

Bouwmeester, who was drafted third overall in the 2002 NHL Draft by the Florida Panthers, has played for Florida (471 games), the Calgary Flames (279 games) and the St. Louis Blues (449 games) over his impressive 17-year career. Along the way, he has collected 418 career points (88 goals, 330 assists) and 623 penalty minutes.

Bouwmeester lifted the Stanley Cup for the first time in his career in 2018-19 after 1,184 career regular-season games. He became the seventh player in NHL history to play in as many regular-season games before winning his first Stanley Cup, joining Ray Bourque (1,612), Dave Andreychuk (1,597), Glen Wesley (1,311), Pat Verbeek (1,225), Luc Robitaille (1,205) and Rod Brind'Amour (1,187).

Additionally, Bouwmeester has dressed in 75 career playoff games, recording 13 assists, including seven assists and a plus-9 rating in 26 games during the Blues' Stanley Cup championship season in 2019.

Bouwmeester became the fifth player to play his 1,200th game while wearing a Blue Note, joining Jason Arnott, Keith Tkachuk, Scott Mellanby and Al MacInnis.

"To be able to say you played 1,200, it's a nice round number, so it's nice," Bouwmeester said. "Hopefully there's a few more after."