2024-2025 NHL Captains: By Numbers

After Jordan Eberle was named the Seattle Kraken captain last week, the NHL now has a full complement of captains for the first time since the 2010-11 season.

At the time, it was a 30-team league, meaning this is the first time ever that 32 captains have been present. And only two captains from that 2010-2011 season are still in their positions. Fittingly enough, it’s Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin – who are also the second- and third-longest 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 awarded the ‘C’ by Pittsburgh on May 31, 2007, at the age of 19 years and 297 days. That made him the youngest captain in NHL history at the time. Mario Lemieux had been captain during Crosby’s rookie year, although he played in only 26 games. The position remained vacant for one season after Lemieux’s retirement.

Washington appointed Ovechkin midway through the 2009-2010 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 December 28, 2009. A week later, on January 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 replacing a current teammate (Auston Matthews replaced John Tavares with Toronto)

1 – captain replacing a departed teammate (Victor Hedman replaced Steven Stamkos with Tampa Bay)

1 – Captain of a New Franchise (Clayton KellerUtah. Oliver Ekman-Larsson was Arizona’s last captain, in 2020-2021)

5 – captains who filled franchise vacancies (Sean CouturierPhiladelphia – Claude Giroux was the last captain, until March 19, 2022; Jordan EberleSeattle – Mark Giordano was the last captain, until March 20, 2022; Radko GudasAnaheim – Ryan Getzlaf was last captain in 2021-2022; Nick FolignoChicago – Jonathan Toews was last captain in 2022-2023; Rasmus DahlinBuffalo – Kyle Okposo was captain until the 2023-24 trade deadline)

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

3 – new captains in 2024, in their twenties, by age at appointment (Matthew -26, Keller -26, Dahlin24)

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

Double duty

1 – current captains who have captained 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 daily)

How they were acquired

23 – current captains drafted by their teams

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

1 – current captains claimed in the expansion draft (Jordan Eberle -Seattle)

5 – current captains acquired through trade, in order of longevity (Jordaan Staal -Carolina, Mark Steen -Vegas, Jacob Trouba – NY Rangers, rights traded before free agency; Nick Suzuki – Montreal, traded before his NHL debut; Nick Foligno – Chicago, rights traded before free agency)

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

terms of office

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

18 – seasons of the current captain with the longest tenure, including 2024-25 (Sidney CrosbyPittsburgh)

2 – seasons that Sidney Crosby is under contract after this year

3 – current captains among the 10 longest-serving captains of all time (Sidney Crosby -Pittsburgh; Alex Ovechkin – Washington, tied for third in 16 seasons; Gabriel Landeskog – Colorado, tied for eighth in 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 – Pittsburg)

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 Steen -Vegas

5 – current captains who have won a Stanley Cup while not a 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 Steel – 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 HischierNewJersey

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 was born in the US; 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)

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