NHL Power Rankings: Celebrating the longest-tenured player on each team

This time a year, we’re all infatuated with the new guy.

How’s that UFA we signed in the summer doing? You know, the one who, after he signed, everybody tweeted all at once, “Get that bag!” How about that fresh-faced rookie or the goalie we traded for to spot leakin’ between the pipes?

Cards on the table, you’ll find questions like that addressed in this space soon enough. For now, though, how about some old, familiar faces? You know, the guys who, in many cases, have seen some ups and downs and stuck around to see it through.

For this week’s Power Rankings, we’ll take a peek at the longest-tenured player for each squad. In some cases it’s impossible to envision these players with any other club. In others, it’s fair to wonder if this season will be the final one in an extended marriage.

1. Colorado Avalanche (2-1-1) I still remember how thrilling it was in February 2011 to see the Avs and St. Louis Blues hook up for a major in-season swap that sent Chris Stewart to St. Louis and 2006 first-overall pick Erik Johnson to Colorado. We really weren’t seeing a ton of “hockey trades” in those days and this felt like a monster in the moment. Johnson has been with the Avs ever since.

2. Carolina Hurricanes (3-0-0) This is captain Jordan Staal’s 11th season in Carolina and his 10-year contract ends in July. If he comes back for a full 12th year in Raleigh, he’ll also become the longest-tenured Staal there, as older brother Eric was traded during his 12th season with the Canes. (Whatever, we’re not counting the lockout year Eric spent in the AHL as a season, OK?)

3. Calgary Flames (3-0-0) The Flames have seen some mainstays shuffle out the door in recent times, as Mark Giordano, Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau moved on to new burghs. But Mikael Backlund has been a full-timer in Cowtown since 2010-11.

4. New York Rangers (3-1-0) Chris Kreider notched the fourth 50-goal season in Rangers history last year, during his 10th year with the club. He’s already got a couple goals in Year 11.

5. Florida Panthers (3-1-0) Aleksander Barkov was the rare 18-year-old who could step into the league and look like he belonged. His star has been on the rise ever since his 2013 debut.

6. Tampa Bay Lighting (1-3-0) Steven Stamkos is trying to make Year 15 in Tampa an unforgettable one: he’s on pace for 123 goals! Truthfully, I thought he was leaving in the summer of 2016, but that’s why I’m not Steve Yzerman, and Steve Yzerman is.  

7. Toronto Maple Leafs (2-2-0) The four guys who went ahead of Morgan Rielly in the 2012 draft were Nail Yakupov, Ryan Murray, Alex Galchenyuk and Griffin Reinhart. Of those four, only Murray is still in the NHL.  

8. Boston Bruins (3-1-0) Patrice Bergeron played his first game for the B’s 19 years ago, on Oct. 8, 2003. No player has been with his current NHL club that long.

9. St. Louis Blues (2-0-0) Despite a trade request when the relationship got rocky, Vladimir Tarasenko is still with the team that stole him at 16th overall in the 2010 draft.  

10. Vegas Golden Knights (3-1-0) There’s basically been constant roster churn in Vegas since it drafted a team in 2017, but William Karlsson, Shea Theodore, Jonathan Marchessault, Reilly Smith, Brayden McNabb and William Carrier are all still there.  

11. Pittsburgh Penguins (2-0-1) We didn’t know if the Big 3 would make it through the summer, with Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin eligible to leave as UFAs. But both came back to play with Sidney Crosby, who’s been in Pittsburgh a little longer than both of them.

12. Dallas Stars (3-0-0) The conversation has shifted to Jamie Benn’s $9.5-million cap hit so much in recent years that you forget he’s one of the all-time draft finds in the fifth round. This guy was a league scoring champ and has been captain of the team for nearly 10 years. 

13. Edmonton Oilers (1-2-0) Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was runner-up for the Calder Trophy in 2012. For a first-overall pick, "The Nuge" hasn’t really blown people’s hair back, but he’s been one steady centre for a decade.  

14. Winnipeg Jets (2-1-0) Blake Wheeler was traded from Boston to Atlanta during the 2010-11 season, then moved to Winnipeg to be part of the Jets 2.0 starting the following fall. All he’s done is put up 759 points in 828 games with the franchise.

15. Los Angeles Kings (3-2-0) Anze Kopitar, Jonathan Quick and Drew Doughty were all central figures on teams that won Cups 10 years ago and continue to be pillar players for the organization that drafted them. Kopitar has been around the longest and he’s a point-per-game player early on in Season 17.  

16. New York Islanders (2-1-0) This feels like one where you could take a couple guesses, then go, “Oh, yeah, Josh Bailey!” 

17. Nashville Predators (2-2-1) Roman Josi became a regular in 2011-12, took over as captain in 2017 and figures to be in Nashville for many years to come. 

18. Washington Capitals (2-2-0) Alex Ovechkin has 782 goals since entering the league in 2005. When he gets to 787, he’ll have scored more goals for one NHL team than any player in league history, eclipsing the 786 that Mr. Hockey netted in Detroit.

19. Minnesota Wild (0-3-0) What a free-agent signing Jared Spurgeon, who debuted in 2010-11, has been. Remember, Spurgeon was originally a sixth-rounder for the Islanders back in 2008 but never inked a deal with the club.  

20. Detroit Red Wings (2-0-1) Dylan Larkin was third in Wings scoring during his rookie season of 2015-16, behind Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk. We know he can leave as a UFA next summer, but if Detroit has any kind of season, can you really see the Michigan boy bolting? 

21. Buffalo Sabres (2-1-0) Poor Zemgus Girgensons came along just in time for Buffalo to miss the playoffs all the freakin’ time. This is Year 9 for the Latvian and, so far, not even a sniff of the post-season. He’s also on coach No. 6.  

22. Philadelphia Flyers (3-1-0) Sean Couturier is on the IR, but it’ll be Season No. 13 for him in Philly when he gets back.  

23. Ottawa Senators (1-2-0) Thomas Chabot is skating in his sixth season with the Sens and you sort of feel like he’s still got one more gear to find.

24. Columbus Blue Jackets (1-3-0) Boone Jenner has been a big-bodied presence in Ohio since 2013-14, and last year was quietly his second-best goals-per-60 mark at 1.1.  

25. New Jersey Devils (1-2-0) Another sneaky one: Damon Severson, who’s probably going to get a very tasty deal from somebody this summer as a puck-moving UFA blue-liner.  

26. Montreal Canadiens (2-2-0) We have to give a nod to Carey Price, but the guy on the active roster who’s been a Hab the longest is 2013 Calder Trophy runner-up Brendan Gallagher.

27. Seattle Kraken (1-2-2) And your all-time Seattle Kraken games played leader is … Adam Larsson, at 87! 

28. Anaheim Ducks (1-3-0) Still a couple months shy of his 31st birthday, you could see Cam Fowler still being a very good player on the Ducks when they turn a corner. The O.C. lifer joined Anaheim in 2010-11.

29. Vancouver Canucks (0-3-1) Bo Horvat is in Year 9 as a Canuck and the captain could leave as a UFA next summer. Of course, every problem in Vancouver right now is taking a backseat to the issue of how to protect a lead.

30. Chicago Blackhawks (1-2-0) Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews joined Chicago together for the 2007-08 season, finishing first (Kane) and third (Toews) in Calder voting. In all likelihood, they’ll also leave together as part of in-season trades this year or next summer as free agents.  

31. Arizona Coyotes (1-2-0) Lawson Crouse and Jakob Chychrun cracked the Coyotes as teenagers in 2016-17. Unfortunately, five years on, the Coyotes are still stuck in perpetual rebuild mode.  

32. San Jose Sharks (0-5-0)  Marc-Edouard Vlasic made a fantastic 2006-07 Sharks team as a 19-year-old. Only Patrick Marleau — who's played more than everyone — saw more games as a Shark than the 1,166 Vlasic has skated in.