With puck drop on Jan. 30, 2018, Dan Hamhuis continues to prove his durability by skating in his 1,000th NHL game – as just the 18th NHL player to reach the milestone.

The path to 1,000

Hamhuis skated in his first career NHL game on Oct. 9, 2003 with the Nashville Predators, and scored his first goal one week later on Oct. 16th, after being drafted 12th overall by the club in 2001.

Among rookie defencemen that season, he finished tied for third in scoring with 26 points while averaging 22:07 of ice time, which placed him second among the group. The blueliner also got his first taste of playoff action with six games – in tandem with the Predators, who made their franchise debut in the 2003-04 postseason.

Hamhuis went on to post a standout sophomore campaign with a career-high 38 points. The durable and effective defenceman totaled 483 games played with the Preds, skating in at least 78 games each season, while he also helped the club reach the playoffs on five occasions.

Born in Smithers, British Columbia, Hamhuis fulfilled a childhood dream by signing as a free agent with the Vancouver Canucks in 2010. In his first season with the club, he helped them to their first-ever Presidents’ Trophy and all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Hamhuis has brought home plenty of international hardware for his native Canada – a four-medal collection at the men’s level that features three golds from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi as well as the 2007 and 2015 World Championship.

Over his tenure with the Canucks, Hamhuis was as much a fixture off the ice as on it. In 2012, he and his wife Sarah made a generous $100,000 contribution to the construction of a new Ronald McDonald House BC and the defenceman was also voted as the Canucks’ candidate for the 2015-16 Masterton Trophy.

Hamhuis spent six seasons in Vancouver before signing as a free agent with the Dallas Stars in 2016. Now in his second season with the club, Hamhuis is the 316th player to skate in 1,000 NHL games.

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