After 11 and a half years in the National Hockey League, Saturday night’s matchup between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers marked a historic milestone for Tampa Bay’s 31-year old center from Latvia. Zemgus Girgensons has now skated in 800 matches in the NHL.
His illustrious career began when he came over to the United States from Latvia in 2009 seeking a career in the NHL. His dream became a reality three years later in 2012 when the Buffalo Sabers drafted him in the first round (Pick No. 14 overall) in the 2012 NHL draft.
He spent the first 10 years of his career with the Sabers before he signed a three-year, $2.55 contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning on July 1, 2024.
Over the course of his 11 and a half seasons in the NHL, the left-handed forward has skated in, as mentioned 800 games. He has scored 96 goals, recording 105 assists and 201 total points. He has a career -73 rating. He has accrued 249 penalty minutes, scoring five power play goals, 11 power play points, seven short-handed goals, and nine shorthanded points. He has averaged 14:01 on the ice over the course of his career.
Girgensons was a 2012 USHL First-All Star Team member, named a 2015 NHL All-Star, skating in the All-Star game that season after receiving a league-high 1,574,896 votes as a rookie offenseman.
Last season Girgensons skated 82 games for Tampa Bay. He scored two goals, on four assists, and six points. He averaged 11:40 on the ice.
So far this season, the 31-year old has skated in 29 games, scoring five goals, already an improvement from 2024-25, two assists, and he has seven points accrued thus far. The 6’3”, 197lb lefty has averaged 15:00 of ice time. He has 10 penalty minutes accrued.
After this season Girgensons will still have one more season remaining on his three-year contract with Tampa Bay.