I was thinking about what an accomplishment it is for Yzerman to play his entire career with one team. With free agency and salary caps that has become quite rare. For example, Peter Forsberg would likely still be playing for Colorado if it weren't for the cap. And Zedno Chara and Marian Hossa would still be Senators. So I was thinking how many current players would likely finish their career with the team they started with. I looked at players still with their original team for more than 10 years since which takes them beyond prime free agency age. Here is the list:
Sakic (Colorado) - 17 years
Modano (Dallas) - 16 years
Lidstrom (Detroit) - 14 years
Kolzig (Washington) - 14 years
Bradeur (New Jersey) - 13 years
Smyth (Edmonton) - 11 years
Brylin (New Jersey) - 11 years
That's it! Just 7 players. Although there are a small number of potential players that could fall in this group who aren't over 10 years (Elias, Koivu and Alfresson). There are also a group of players that have played for over 10 years with one team but did not start with that team (Sundin, Naslund, and Maltby).
12 years ago
