In the 102-year history of the National Hockey League, 348 individuals have played 1,000 or more regular season games. 44 of them, or 12.6%, have played some part of their career with the Atlanta or Calgary Flames. We call these players Long-Timers.
Let’s take a look at Derek Morris.
Born in Edmonton, Morris came up through the WHL with the Regina Pats. He was the Flames’ first round pick in 1996 and made the NHL team out of training camp in 1997.
Finishing fifth in Calder voting – in a really stacked rookie class headlined by Sergei Samsonov – Morris carved out a nice career for himself as a very good (but not quite great) two-way defender.