BOSTON — Brad Marchand admits reaching the Hockey Hall of Fame is a goal or a dream. Either way, the Bruins captain is trying not to think about it.

Marchand was set to play his 1,000th career game Tuesday night against the Lightning at TD Garden to become the eighth Boston player to join that club. The milestone made for a natural time to reflect about what he’s accomplished in the first 999 games of his career.

Marchand said 1,000 games was a goal early in his career, but as he went from being a fourth-line penalty killer/grinder to a first-line All-Star and Team Canada team member, he said his goals have broadened.

Is one of those goals being enshrined in the Hall of Fame?

“Yeah, it is. I think that’s the ultimate recognition that a player can get to be in the Hall of Fame,” he said. “Is it achievable? I don’t know.”

Marchand doesn’t want to know. Not yet.

“The best way to do that is to not look at things like that. Try to be good every day and try to get better and try to help the team,” he said. “At the end of the day, the guys who have those accolades, it’s because they’re part of winning teams and winning organizations. When a team has success, players do. I think that’s what makes some of those Hall of Famers the greatest of all time – their winning accolades. That’s what it’s about – trying to win more Cups and trying to be part of good teams. There’s a reason for that. It’s the culture that’s been built here.”

If he’s telling the truth, Marchand should stop reading here.

Adjusted Hockey is a site that has created a mathematical ranking system that compares players to determine Hall of Fame worthiness. Its creator, Paul Pidutti, says Marchand has already done enough to warrant inclusion. He called him “One of the Most Underappreciated Players in NHL History.”

Pidutti isn’t on an island.

Using adjusted points as the defining metric, Hockey Reference lists Marchand’s career compares to Joe Thornton, Brett Hull, Steve Yzerman, Jarome Iginla, Steve Stamkos and Marcel Dionne. All are either Hall of Famers or will be.

Bruins Coach Jim Montgomery was asked if he thought Marchand was worthy of enshrinement and didn’t hesitate.

“I do,” said Montgomery, who thought his left-wing jumped from very good to elite “about five years ago.”

Somewhere around that time, opposing teams began worrying more about his play and less about his antics which led to him being suspended eight times and fined five more. He has 397 goals and 513 assists for 910 career points. Every month he puts between his thriving present and his history of run-ins with NHL discipline only strengthens his candidacy, but his mixture of reputation and production makes him a unique case.

“He started the offensive production. Every year 95 points. Every year a dominant player,” Montgomery said. “You have to be aware of him every game.”

Marchand doesn’t want to be aware of himself. He’s willfully ignoring, even aggressively avoiding any breakdowns of his current Hall of Fame worthiness.

“I’ve had so many incredible players to learn from and one of the things that I’ve realized watching them is that they don’t take a day for granted,” he said. “It’s truly a gift to be part of this team and to be in this league. You never know when your last day is going to come. I feel like when you start looking at things you’ve accomplished, you might start thinking it gets easier and as you get older, it only gets harder.

“It’s very easy to get complacent in this game and it’s very easy to get comfortable,” he added. “That’s probably one of my biggest fears in this game and one of the things that drives me the most.”

At 35, if he slows down at all, it’s harder to get revved back up to full speed, so he won’t slow down.

“I see the amount of time I feel like I can still play,” he said. “I don’t know what it takes to get there but, I’m gonna play every single day and come to the rink every day and try to get better and try to play as long as I can. If it happens, it happens, it’s not so much a goal as it’d be kind of a dream come true.”

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