Here's each Eastern Conference club's leader in games played among NHL skaters currently under contract for their franchise.
It takes durability, consistency and loyalty for a player to say they've played the most games for their team than any of their current teammates, let alone the most in franchise history.
In the Eastern Conference, only two players lead their franchise in all-time games played, and you could probably guess who before scrolling down to find out. But three more players in the East can overtake a former face of the franchise to become all-time leaders for their respective clubs as soon as 2023-24.
Here’s each Eastern Conference franchise’s active leader in regular-season games played and where they lie on each team’s all-time list. Keep in mind this list only features players who are still under contract for their team as of Sept. 5, 2023. If you're looking for every Western Conference team's leader, click here.
Boston Bruins: Brad Marchand, 947 games – Now-former Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron retired with 1,294 games played for the franchise, which ranked third all-time and yet was still 224 behind Ray Bourque for the most. Then David Krejci retired with 1,032 appearances, which ranked fifth. That leaves Brad Marchand as the current active leader in games played, who sits eighth in franchise history. The left winger hasn’t played 82 games in a season since 2013-14, but he’s 53 away from 1,000 in his career and 80 away from passing Zdeno Chara (1,023) and Wayne Cashman (1,027) for sixth place all-time.
Buffalo Sabres: Zemgus Girgensons, 625 games – It’s already been 11 years since the Sabres drafted Girgensons 14th overall in the 2012 NHL draft. After spending the 2012-13 season in AHL Rochester, he’s been with the Sabres ever since. Aside from the 2014-15 season and the COVID-19-shortened campaigns, Girgensons recorded at least 70 games each in six other years. The alternate captain from Riga, Latvia, ranks 13th in Sabres history for the most games ever played for the franchise, and another healthy season can boost him up to 10th past Ric Seiling (664), Mike Foligno (664) and Richard Martin (681).
Carolina Hurricanes: Jordan Staal, 742 games – The Canes’ captain passed Jeff O’Neill, Rod Brind’Amour and Kevin Dineen in games played for the Hurricanes-Whalers franchise last season. He now sits fourth all-time and will stay there no matter what happens in 2023-24, as his brother, Eric Staal, is in third place with 909 matches. Jordan Staal signed a four-year contract this past summer, and he’s on pace to pass Eric for third place and Glen Wesley’s 913 appearances for second place in the third season of his new deal. However, the 34-year-old would need to play six more seasons for Carolina to have a crack at passing Ron Francis’ 1,186 contests for the franchise's all-time lead.
Columbus Blue Jackets: Boone Jenner, 657 games – The watch is on for Jenner to pass Rick Nash’s 674 appearances for the most-ever games played for the Blue Jackets. What is for certain is that as soon as Jenner touches the ice in a game for Columbus in 2023-24, he’ll set a new franchise record for most seasons played – he’s currently tied for first with 10 campaigns alongside Rostislav Klesla, David Savard and Cam Atkinson. Jenner’s dealt with some injury issues in the past few years, but if he remains healthy to begin the season, the soonest he can set the new games-played record is Nov. 18 in Washington against the Capitals.
Detroit Red Wings: Dylan Larkin, 584 games – Let’s get this out of the way – Larkin could play for the Red Wings for another decade of 82-game seasons, reach 1,404 contests and still not set a new record for most games played for the Detroit franchise. In fact, he would only be in fifth place behind Steve Yzerman (1,514), Alex Delvecchio (1,550), Nicklas Lidstrom (1,564) and Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe, whose 1,687 matches are the most NHL games played with a single franchise ever. Larkin’s newly signed eight-year contract that lasts through 2030-31 is a good start, as he currently ranks 32nd all-time and can get to 24th if he plays at least 75 more games.
Florida Panthers: Aleksander Barkov, 664 games – Barkov already holds franchise records for most goals (243), points (631), multi-point games (166), power-play goals (70), game-winning goals (44), shootout goals and shootout-deciding goals (27 and 10)… you get the jist. He’s also on pace to surpass Jonathan Huberdeau’s 671 appearances for the most games and most assists this season. Barkov’s only reached 70 games played in a campaign three times in his 10-season NHL career, but if he stays healthy, he’ll break Huberdeau’s record on Oct. 30 in Boston.
Montreal Canadiens: Brendan Gallagher, 675 games – He only played in 37 contests, but Gallagher passed six longtime Habs on the all-time franchise list last season. Three of them are Hall of Famers Elmer Lach, Aurel Joliat and Dickie Moore. Gallagher also passed 1962 Calder Trophy winner and four-time Cup champion Bobby Rousseau, three-time All-Star Game participant Shayne Corson and 2003 World Championship gold medallist Craig Rivet. It’s already been 10 years since Gallagher made the NHL all-rookie team after breaking out in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign.
New Jersey Devils: Jesper Bratt, 389 games – Damon Severson was New Jersey’s active games-played leader last season, finishing with 647 career appearances before the team traded him to the Columbus Blue Jackets in June. That made Miles Wood the next active leader among current Devils players, but he became a UFA and signed with the Colorado Avalanche. So unless New Jersey reacquires those two or Zach Parise, Adam Henrique or Kyle Palmieri, Bratt is the new active leader. He passed Pavel Zacha for 38th place in franchise history, which includes the Colorado Rockies and Kansas City Scouts. Captain Nico Hischier isn’t far behind, with 381 games played.
New York Islanders: Matt Martin, 766 games – Josh Bailey became the third player ever to record 1,000 games played for the New York Islanders last season. The team decided to buy him out over the summer, so Martin is the new active leader. He ranks seventh in franchise history, just eight games ahead of Brock Nelson and 21 ahead of Casey Cizikas. The 34-year-old grit grinder has spent 12 of his 14 career NHL seasons with the Isles, split up by a two-year stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
New York Rangers: Chris Kreider, 733 games – The 32-year-old is entering the fourth season of a seven-year contract with the Rangers. Even though he dropped off from his 77-point campaign in 2021-22, Kreider’s 54 points last season were still the second-most of his 11-year NHL career. In the 97-year history of the Rangers, ranking 12th in franchise history for most games played is not too shabby. He has a shot at moving up to ninth this season and passing Adam Graves (772), Dan Girardi (788) and Jim Neilson (811). Kreider still has quite a ways to go if he wants to catch Harry Howell’s 1,160 games for the most in Rangers history.
Ottawa Senators: Thomas Chabot, 381 games – Appearing in at least 75 contests this season can move Chabot up to 14th place from 23rd on the modern Senators’ all-time list, passing players such as Kyle Turris, Milan Michalek, Anton Volchenkov, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Cody Ceci and Bobby Ryan in the process. The most games he’s played in one season is 71 back in 2019-20. However, since the NHL started tracking time on ice in 1997-98, Chabot already ranks ninth for most minutes played for the Senators, with 9,188. Jakob Chychrun and Jake Sanderson should help lighten his workload for this upcoming campaign.
Philadelphia Flyers: Sean Couturier, 721 games – The 30-year-old center missed the entire 2022-23 season and more than half of 2021-22 after undergoing two back surgeries. Couturier is expected to be on the ice for training camp and can make a lot of progress on Philadelphia’s all-time games list. He currently sits 12th but needs 70 games to take sole possession of fourth place, passing two-time Cup champs Gary Dornhoefer (725), Rick MacLeish (741), Bob Kelly (741) and Joe Watson (746). Only Bobby Clarke (1,144) and Claude Giroux (1,000) reached 1,000 games for the Flyers.
Pittsburgh Penguins: Sidney Crosby, 1,190 games – Yep, he ranks first in franchise history. And Evgeni Malkin (1,063) and Kris Letang (1,005) round out the top three. They’re the only three players still on their team to rank first, second and third on their franchise games list, aside from those with Vegas and Seattle. Crosby will have a tough time during the rest of his NHL career to catch Mario Lemieux for the franchise records in goals (690 to Crosby’s 550) and points (1,723 to 1,502), but he is closer to ‘Super Mario’ in assists (1,033 to 952).
Tampa Bay Lightning: Steven Stamkos, 1,003 games – Keep your eyes peeled, Bolts fans. Stamkos is only 35 games away from passing Vincent Lecavalier for the most in franchise history. The soonest the captain can accomplish the feat is Dec. 23 against the Washington Capitals. He already became the franchise leader in seasons played last year, with 15. Victor Hedman can also pass Lecavalier in games this season, as he sits just 63 matches behind the former Lightning captain.
Toronto Maple Leafs: Morgan Rielly, 719 games – Morgan Rielly only turns 30 years old next March, and he’s 14th in Toronto’s 106-year history for most games played. He’s on Year 2 of an eight-year contract paying him $7.5 million annually. Rielly only needs to play an average of exactly 67 games in each of the remaining seven years of his deal to tie Hall of Famer George Armstrong for the most matchups in franchise history. He can pass Frank Mahovlich (720), Bobby Baun (739) and Tie Domi (777) to reach 11th place in 2023-24.
Washington Capitals: Alex Ovechkin, 1,347 games – Ovechkin has set or tied NHL records for most power-play goals, overtime goals, road goals, go-ahead goals, game-tying goals, game-opening goals, 40-goal seasons and 50-goal seasons. He also owns franchise records for most games played, points (1,485), hat tricks (30), shootout goals and deciders (37 and 16), goals and points by a rookie (52 and 106) and, dare I say, etc. With three years remaining on his five-year contract, Ovechkin ranks 12th in NHL history for most games played with a single franchise, according to hockey-reference.com. He can climb as high as third place behind Patrick Marleau (1,607) and Gordie Howe (1,687) in the remainder of his deal. But let’s remember that there’s another NHL record he’s more focused on, and that’s Wayne Gretzky’s goals record.