MINNEAPOLIS — Everything on the ice these days looks like it comes easy for Nathan MacKinnon.

That wasn’t always the case.

MacKinnon on Monday became the 100th player in NHL history to record 1,000 points in his career. As years pass by, he’ll continue climbing the record books. Given his scoring rate, there are Hall of Famers he could pass before the current regular season ends in a month.

It’s a heck of a milestone, although the 29-year-old superstar was chill about hitting it Monday.

“I don’t know. It’s a number. It’s a cool milestone, for sure,” he said. “Something to reflect on, I guess.”

While MacKinnon didn’t reference it after hitting 1,000 points, there’s one thing he’s often said in recent years after hitting any milestone: “I would have hit it sooner if not for my first few seasons in the league.”

Yeah, about those.

MacKinnon burst onto the scene as an 18-year-old rookie in 2013, scoring 63 points in 82 games. He followed it up with a point-per-game performance in the postseason. It would only get better from there, right?

The path to superstardom isn’t always a straight line. It wasn’t for MacKinnon. 

Prior to his sophomore season, MacKinnon bulked up, putting on 12 pounds of muscle during the offseason. Some escape the dreaded “sophomore slump,” but not MacKinnon. The Avalanche, as a team, took a step back and MacKinnon’s production dipped to 38 points in 64 games. Seasons three and four were better, as he put up 52 and 53 points, respectively, but nothing close to the eye-popping numbers we’ve become accustomed to these days.

He was a very good NHL player, but would he become a superstar? He answered that the next season.

The 2017-18 campaign was a special one for the Avalanche and MacKinnon. After being the worst team in the NHL the year before, they managed to sneak into the postseason. No. 29 was a big reason why. He exploded with 97 points in 74 games and many believe he was robbed of his first Hart Trophy. Since then, he’s never looked back.

Before 2017, he averaged .69 points per game. Since 2017, he’s at an astonishing 1.42. Yes, he would have hit some of these milestones a little quicker if he had hit the ground running, but the lessons learned from those early years also helped turn him into the player he is today.

“I think he became more of a pro,” his best buddy, Jonathan Drouin, told The Denver Gazette. “As a young guy, you’re going in and getting your feet wet. You don’t really know what the NHL is. Sometimes it takes two years to figure it out. Sometimes six years, five years. He’s figured it out. He knows what works for him now.”

Erik Johnson was around for MacKinnon’s first career point in 2013. On Monday, Johnson witnessed MacKinnon’s 1,000th. There aren’t a lot of people around the league who know MacKinnon better. In the locker room, Johnson had to double check with MacKinnon on the opponent for MacKinnon’s first point. 

“It was Anaheim, right?” Johnson yelled across the room.

“Yep,” MacKinnon answered back.

Johnson knew MacKinnon would be a star. It just took a few years to get there.

“He came in as an 18-year-old kid, right? He had all the talent in the world and had a lot of pressure on him,” Johnson said. “Everyone could see the skill make-up that he had. As he got a little bit older, I think something clicked for him. He just figured it out and decided that he’s going to pour all his resources into being the best player he can be.”

Jared Bednar arrived in 2016. Although his first season in Colorado went poorly, to say the least, he’s had a front-row view to MacKinnon’s greatness in the eight seasons since. Under Bednar, something clicked for MacKinnon, although the coach isn’t likely to take credit for that.

When it did click, MacKinnon still wasn’t satisfied.

“I’m sure it took him a little bit longer than he wanted to be a true impact player in the league, but then he got there and he didn’t stop there,” Bednar said. “He just keeps pushing the boundaries and elevating his game, which is what I really like about it. There’s no rest or no complacency in what he’s done.”

A person as dedicated to his craft as MacKinnon won’t be held down for long. The lessons learned from those first few years in the NHL will likely stick with him until he’s done playing, which isn’t good news for the rest of the league.

“I think having to go through difficulties as a young player and working your way through them and coming out the other side can also continue to motivate you so you don’t get complacent later on in your career,” Bednar said.

And there’s a lot of career left for MacKinnon. At 29, there are other milestones to hit. Joe Sakic’s franchise-record 1,641 points is well within reach for him if he continues down this path, and there’s no reason to believe he won’t. He’s as motivated as they come.

The personal milestones are fun, but he cares more about something else. That’s why he’s built different.

“He does so much away from the game that helps him be at his best that no one sees, and all he cares about is winning,” Johnson said. “He drags everybody into the fight because you can tell that’s all that matters to him. He leads by example because he does all the right things.”

It’s not another Stanley Cup, but 1,000 points is a heck of an accomplishment, even if he might think it should have happened sooner. Getting it done at 29 isn’t too bad, either.

“He’s very humble,” Drouin said. “I hope he’ll be happy because it’s a hell of a milestone at that age to get 1,000 points.”