NHL Captains For 2024-25: By The Numbers

After Jordan Eberle was awarded the Seattle Kraken’s captaincy last week, the NHL now has a full slate of captains for the first time since the 2010-11 season.

Back then, it was a 30-team league, which means this is the first time ever that 32 captains are in place. And only two captains from that 2010-11 season are still in their positions. Fittingly, it’s Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin — who are also the second- and third-longest tenured NHL captains of all-time, behind only Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings.

After starting his NHL career with two 100-plus point seasons, Crosby was given Pittsburgh’s ‘C’ on May 31, 2007, at age 19 years, 297 days. At the time, that made him the youngest captain in NHL history. Mario Lemieux had been captain during Crosby’s rookie year, although he only appeared in 26 games. The position was left vacant for one season after Lemieux’s retirement.

Washington appointed Ovechkin midway through the 2009-10 campaign — his fifth year. Chris Clark had been captain for three-and-a-half seasons when he was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Dec. 28, 2009. A week later, on Jan. 5, 2010, Ovechkin took over.

Here’s a closer look at Crosby, Ovechkin and this year’s other 30 NHL captains, by the numbers.

New Captains

8 - new captains appointed during the 2024 calendar year

1 - captain that replaces a current teammate (Auston Matthews replaced John Tavares with Toronto)

1 - captain that replaces a departed teammate (Victor Hedman replaced Steven Stamkos with Tampa Bay)

1 - captain of a new franchise (Clayton Keller, Utah. Oliver Ekman-Larsson was Arizona’s last captain, in 2020-21)

5 - captains who filled franchise vacancies (Sean Couturier, Philadelphia - Claude Giroux was last captain, until March 19, 2022; Jordan Eberle, Seattle - Mark Giordano was last captain, until March 20, 2022; Radko Gudas, Anaheim - Ryan Getzlaf was last captain in 2021-22; Nick Foligno, Chicago - Jonathan Toews was last captain in 2022-23; Rasmus Dahlin, Buffalo - Kyle Okposo was captain until 2023-24 trade deadline)

5 - new captains in 2024 in their 30s, by age when appointed (Foligno - 36, Eberle - 34, Gudas - 34, Hedman - 33, Couturier - 31)

3 - new captains in 2024 in their 20s, by age when appointed (Matthews - 26, Keller - 26, Dahlin, 24)

5 - new captains named in 2023, all in September (Quinn Hughes - Vancouver, Adam Lowry - Winnipeg, Brayden Schenn - St. Louis, Brad Marchand - Boston, Mikael Backlund - Calgary)

Double Duty

1 - current captains who have been captains of more than one team (Nick Foligno - Chicago and Columbus)

Injury Status

4 - current captains on the sidelines due to injury (Gabriel Landeskog - Colorado, Logan Couture - San Jose, Boone Jenner - Columbus, Jared Spurgeon - Minnesota, listed as day-to-day)

How They Were Acquired

22 - current captains who were drafted by their teams

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1 - current captains of new franchises (Clayton Keller - Utah, drafted by Arizona)

1 - current captains who were claimed in expansion draft (Jordan Eberle - Seattle)

6 - current captains who were acquired by trade, in order of longevity (Jordan Staal - Carolina, Mark Stone - Vegas, Jacob Trouba - NY Rangers, rights traded ahead of free agency; Nick Suzuki - Montreal, traded before making NHL debut; Brayden Schenn - St. Louis, Nick Foligno - Chicago, rights traded before free agency)

2 - current captains who were signed as free agents, in order of longevity (Jared Spurgeon - Minnesota, signed before making NHL debut; Radko Gudas - Anaheim)

Tenures

19 - seasons of longest-ever captaincy (Steve Yzerman - Detroit)

18 - seasons of current longest-tenured captain including 2024-25 (Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh)

2 - seasons that Sidney Crosby is under contract beyond this year

3 - current captains among 10 longest-tenured captains of all-time (Sidney Crosby - Pittsburgh; Alex Ovechkin - Washington, tied for third at 16 seasons; Gabriel Landeskog - Colorado, tied for eighth at 13 seasons)

Ages

39 - age of oldest current captain (Alex Ovechkin - Washington)

1 - captains born in the 2000s (Rasmus Dahlin - Buffalo)

3 - current captains who were under 20 when appointed, from youngest to oldest (Connor McDavid - Edmonton, Gabriel Landeskog - Colorado, Sidney Crosby - Pittsburgh)

Stanley Cups

5 - current captains who have won a Stanley Cup as captain, by number of Cups (3: Sidney Crosby - Pittsburgh; 1: Alex Ovechkin - Washington, Gabriel Landeskog - Colorado, Aleksander Barkov - Florida, Mark Stone - Vegas

5 - current captains who won a Stanley Cup when they were not captain, by number of Cups (2: Anze Kopitar - Los Angeles with Dustin Brown as captain, 2012 and 2014; Victor Hedman - Tampa Bay with Steven Stamkos as captain, 2020 and 2021; 1: Jordan Staal - Carolina, won with Pittsburgh, 2009; Brayden Schenn with Alex Pietrangelo as captain, 2019; Brad Marchand with Zdeno Chara as captain, 2011)

Nationalities

13 - current Canadian-born captains

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1 - current Russian-born captains (Alex Ovechkin - Washington)

4 - current Swedish-born captains, in order of longevity (Gabriel Landeskog - Colorado, Mikael Backlund - Calgary, Victor Hedman - Tampa Bay, Rasmus Dahlin - Buffalo)

1 - current Slovenian-born captains (Anze Kopitar - Los Angeles)

2 - current Swiss-born captains, in order of longevity (Roman Josi - Nashville, Nico Hischier, New Jersey

9 - current American-born captains, in order of longevity (Anders Lee - NY Islanders, Dylan Larkin - Detroit, Brady Tkachuk - Ottawa, Jacob Trouba - NY Rangers, Quinn Hughes - Vancouver, Adam Lowry - Winnipeg, plays for Team Canada but born in USA; Auston Matthews - Toronto, Nick Foligno - Chicago, Clayton Keller - Utah)

1 - current Finnish-born captains (Aleksander Barkov - Florida)

1- current Czech-born captains (Radko Gudas - Anaheim)

Correction: Brayden Schenn's category in the "how they were acquired" section was fixed.

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