4 Pittsburgh Penguins Draft Picks to Play 1,000 Game NHL Careers

The Pittsburgh Penguins have been drafting players since they came into the National Hockey League for the 1967-68 season. Yet, over the forty plus years, just four players drafted by the Penguins have gone on to NHL careers consisting of more than 1,000 regular season games. One of the players is still active in the league and three of the four are most likely destined for the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Doug Bodger

Doug Bodger was drafted ninth overall by Pittsburgh at the 1984 NHL Draft after two seasons of junior with the Kamloops Junior Oilers of the WHL. The big defenseman played with Pittsburgh from 1984-85 until a trade sent him to the Buffalo Sabres ten games into the 1988-89 season.

In total, Doug played 1,071 NHL regular season games between 1984-85 and 1999-00. Besides the Penguins and Sabres, Bodger also dressed for the San Jose Sharks, New Jersey Devils, Los Angeles Kings and Vancouver Canucks.

Mark Recchi

Mark Recchi was a fourth round pick of the Penguins at the 1988 NHL Entry Draft, 67^th overall. Recchi, like Bodger, was a product of the WHL, playing for the New Westminster Bruins and Kamloops Blazers. Mark played for the Penguins from 1988-89 until being traded to the Philadelphia Flyers during the 1991-92 season. He returned to Pittsburgh to play between 2005-06 and 2007-08.

Recchi retired after the 2010-11 season, going out a champion as a member of the Boston Bruins Stanley Cup winning team. At 1,652 career regular season games, Mark sits behind just Gordie Howe, Mark Messier and Ron Francis for the all-time lead in games played. Throughout his career, Recchi also played for the Montreal Canadiens, Carolina Hurricanes, Atlanta Thrashers and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Jaromir Jagr

After three years playing in Russia’s KHL, Jaromir Jagr has returned to the NHL to add to his games played total. Jagr was the fifth overall pick at the 1990 NHL Entry Draft by the Penguins. He played with Pittsburgh from 1990-91 to 2000-01. He has also been a member of the Washington Capitals, Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers. Jaromir is currently a member of the New Jersey Devils and will pass the 1,400 game plateau in 2013-14 unless something drastic happens. He currently sits at 1,391 as of the end of the 2012-13 season.

Markus Naslund

Markus Naslund was drafted by Pittsburgh, sixteenth overall at the 1991 NHL Entry Draft. Naslund was traded from the Penguins to the Vancouver Canucks near the end of his third year with the club. He played with the Canucks until the end of the 2007-08 season, finishing off his NHL career with the New York Rangers in 2008-09. Naslund played a total of 1,117 NHL games, mostly as the heart and soul leader of the Vancouver Canucks.