With Jaromir Jagr, Shane Doan, and Jarome Iginla no longer in the league, there are only five players left that debuted in the 1990s.
Roberto Luongo debuted most recently of those five players, not coming into the league until 1999. Before him, four players made their debuts within a two month stretch and have lasted until the current day NHL. They are Toronto Maple Leafs forward Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks playmaker Joe Thornton, Boston Bruins hulking defenceman Zdeno Chara, and Pittsburgh Penguins steady Matt Cullen.
They have been around for a long, long time. To put it into perspective, there are only five athletes that debuted in the 90s in the other three Big 4 sports combined (NBA, MLB, NFL). Bartolo Colon is the lone baseball representative in a sport that is debatably the least physically taxing, a couple kickers (Adam Vinatieri and Phil Dawson) are the lone NFL representatives, while longtime difference makers Dirk Nowitzki and Vince Carter are the longest tenured NBAers.
There are likely all kinds of stats that would blow the minds of fans about just how long these athletes have been playing, but the Pittsburgh Penguins pointed one out that is particularly interesting to do with Matt Cullen specifically. Apparently his career has overlapped with almost half of those that ever played an NHL game.
Wow. There are a few things to consider here.
First of all, the NHL has more roster spots than ever. For most of its existence, the league only had six teams. As a result, the room for players to make it to the show was a lot tighter.
Also, the NHL call-up, send-down system is probably a more well-oiled machine than ever before. Players can pop up to the big league for a few games, and then be sent down to never touch NHL ice again. This wasn’t as common back in the day.
Finally, you should remember that this includes players that played their final game just after the day Cullen debuted (October 28, 1997). That means it includes players that played in the 1980s and possibly the 1970s.
The interesting thing about this is of the four that debuted in 1997, Cullen is actually the third most recent debut. 20 days before his October 28, 1997 debut, Thornton made his debut (October 8, 1997). Prior to that, the longest tenured player suited up for the first time, Patrick Marleau on October 1st. Chara didn’t play for the first time until November 19, 1997.
It would be interesting to know if any players played their final game ever within the October 1st-28th window, making the 49.1% figure even a little more significant.
(H/T Pittsburgh Penguins)
