Quick trivia: who is the biggest single-game ironman in the last decade? Regular-season games only. Would you have guessed Adrian Aucoinr?
| Player | Year | Month | Day | Total TOI |
| Adrian Aucoin | 2002 | 10 | 12 | 40.85 |
| Adrian Aucoin | 2002 | 03 | 19 | 40.53 |
| Adrian Aucoin | 2002 | 02 | 04 | 40.22 |
| Pavel Bure | 2001 | 03 | 07 | 40.20 |
| Boris Mironov | 2000 | 02 | 25 | 38.70 |
| Adrian Aucoin | 2002 | 10 | 17 | 38.35 |
| Adrian Aucoin | 2002 | 01 | 30 | 38.32 |
| Kenny Jonsson | 2001 | 11 | 27 | 38.15 |
| Adrian Aucoin | 2002 | 01 | 22 | 38.08 |
(Doug Gilmour is listed as having played 44:49 on Feb 3, 2000. It seems to be an error.)
Is it any coincidence that Aucoin's coach was Peter Laviolette, he of just four defensemen in the playoffs? I think not.
What about the PP?
| Player | Year | Month | Day | Total | PP |
| Ilya Kovalchuk | 2005 | 11 | 22 | 29.08 | 20.08 |
| Brian Leetch | 2005 | 10 | 24 | 33.30 | 17.27 |
| Ilya Kovalchuk | 2006 | 11 | 01 | 29.62 | 16.58 |
| Andy Delmore | 2003 | 01 | 16 | 21.30 | 15.97 |
| Jaroslav Spacek | 2005 | 10 | 25 | 22.82 | 15.97 |
| Ilya Kovalchuk | 2006 | 12 | 05 | 30.10 | 15.88 |
| Ilya Kovalchuk | 2007 | 12 | 05 | 27.35 | 15.87 |
| Ilya Kovalchuk | 2005 | 11 | 18 | 28.45 | 15.80 |
| Tobias Enstrom | 2007 | 12 | 05 | 29.62 | 15.72 |
| Bryan McCabe | 2006 | 03 | 07 | 31.88 | 15.70 |
No big surprise: Ilya Kovalchuk consistently gets to play all two minutes of a power-play…Over, and over, and over.
As for the PK, Aucoin makes a few more appearances:
| Player | Year | Month | Day | Total | PK |
| Adrian Aucoin | 2002 | 12 | 28 | 32.33 | 14.93 |
| Adrian Aucoin | 2002 | 10 | 17 | 38.35 | 14.70 |
| Derian Hatcher | 2007 | 12 | 15 | 25.78 | 13.87 |
| Bill Houlder | 2002 | 04 | 06 | 21.80 | 13.78 |
| Chris Phillips | 2005 | 12 | 09 | 24.48 | 13.38 |
| Hal Gill | 2007 | 12 | 18 | 28.97 | 13.27 |
| Zdeno Chara | 2005 | 12 | 09 | 32.85 | 13.20 |
| Luke Richardson | 2003 | 04 | 02 | 29.05 | 13.18 |
| Adrian Aucoin | 2002 | 04 | 23 | 26.82 | 13.13 |
| Chris Pronger | 2005 | 10 | 08 | 30.62 | 13.12 |
Note that we don't have game-by-game PP and PK ice time before the 2002-03 season, so we don't know how much ice time Aucoin logged in his 40+ minute marathons.
And what about playoff ironmen?
| Player | Year | Month | Day | Total |
| Sergei Zubov | 2003 | 04 | 24 | 63.85 |
| Derian Hatcher | 2003 | 04 | 24 | 62.03 |
| Dan McGillis | 2000 | 05 | 04 | 61.08 |
| Luke Richardson | 2000 | 05 | 04 | 59.85 |
| Jaromir Jagr | 2000 | 05 | 04 | 59.13 |
| Brian Campbell | 2008 | 05 | 04 | 56.38 |
| Keith Carney | 2003 | 04 | 24 | 56.33 |
| Eric Desjardins | 2000 | 05 | 04 | 56.13 |
| Alex Kovalev | 2000 | 05 | 04 | 55.78 |
| Mike Modano | 2003 | 04 | 24 | 55.48 |
The game in which Zubov and Hatcher exceeded one hour of ice time was Dallas' 141-minute loss to Anaheim in the 2003 playoffs. The other game that contributed significantly to our top ten of high ice time players was the 152-minute between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in the 1999-2000 playoffs.
And, last but not least, this season's leaders – the question that got the ball rolling:
| Player | Year | Month | Day | Total | |
| Tot | Joni Pitkanen | 2010 | 03 | 20 | 34.50 |
| PP | Mike Green | 2009 | 12 | 03 | 13.53 |
| PK | Scott Niedermayer | 2009 | 12 | 11 | 11.15 |
Don't think the NHL has changed even in the short-term? Players simply don't take on the lopsided roles of yesterday anymore, so no player in 2009-10 got anywhere near the ice time that he might have had just a few years earlier.
