SUNRISE, Fla. — No player in NHL history has logged more minutes in a single hockey game since the league started officially tracking the data in 2005-06 than Seth Jones.
His record of 65:06 was set on Aug. 11, 2020 when he was with Columbus, which lost 3-2 in five overtimes to Tampa Bay in Game 1 of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
After the game, Jones was asked how he felt, both physically and mentally. His response: "I feel fine."
On Thursday, Jones added some more eye-popping numbers to that category. He recorded 31:46 of ice time in a 5-3 win over Tampa Bay, which is the most minutes a player has logged in a game this season. And he did so in regulation.
The Blackhawks leaned heavily on Jones because of the circumstances. Jarred Tinordi left after the first period and did not return, which meant the Blackhawks had to play with five defensemen the rest of the way, three of whom are rookies.
"There were some moments in the game where it was pretty tiring, especially with five D for the last 40 minutes," Jones told NBC Sports Chicago. "We tried to keep our shifts short and tried to do what we could."
Jones' personal ice-time best in the regular season is 32:05, which came with Chicago on Jan. 22, 2022 in a 4-3 overtime loss to Minnesota. His personal record in regulation is 31:58, which he ironically did with Chicago against Tampa Bay again on April 1, 2022. The 31:46 of ice time on Thursday was his second-highest total in a regular season game during regulation.
Chicago Blackhawks
Jones' gas tank is one of his biggest assets.
"More than just his cardio, his athletic ability is impressive," Connor Murphy said. "He can play long minutes in any game and can play like throughout the course of a season.
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"He doesn’t seem to get too worn down. It just shows he’s a specimen of an athlete that he’s able to do that and still be effective with his game and not just play safe; he’s still attacking offense and really put in some tough situations against good players.”
If you're a coach, it's a luxury to have a player like Jones who can eat half the game on any given night.
"Seth is a horse out there," Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson said. "He doesn't seem to get tired. I thought his game actually got better and a little tighter as the game went along. When guys get in a groove with a lot of ice time, they play better."
The minutes Jones logs and situations he plays in can sometimes be taken for granted. They're hard minutes, too.
"I think you do take it for granted," Richardson said. "You don't really realize it; you just call his name. But you also have to be mindful of it that you can't take it for granted too much and start overplaying people over an 82-game schedule that much.
"But there's going to be times that you need to. That's where you have to be smart to not do it every night so when you do need it, he's got lots to give you that night."
Jones is a rare breed when it comes to eating big minutes. You don't often see him get tired, either.
Jones is still showing at age 29 that he can handle that type of workload, despite all the mileage his body has racked up, even if it takes him a little longer to recover than it used to.
“It’s harder than when I was 21, for sure,” Jones said smiling. “But you do what you can. The trainers are there and do a great job. You do cold tub, massage, things like that, just hydrate is the most important thing, get all that water back into you, electrolytes, things like that. But yeah, it’s a little bit harder these days to recover.”
Duncan Keith holds the Blackhawks record for most minutes in a regular-season game at 34:32, which came on March 9, 2011 in a 4-3 shootout loss to, you guessed it, Tampa Bay. His personal best in regulation is 32:52, on Oct. 13, 2010 in a 3-2 loss to Nashville.
Most teams tend to lean on a committee-type approach when it comes to filling out important minutes on the back end, especially when there's an injury. The Blackhawks have been fortunate over the years where they've been able to lean heavily on Keith or Jones in those types of situations.
While he does appreciate playing a lot, Jones thinks between 24-25 minutes is the sweet spot for him.
"I think that’s unrealistic to play that much every game, obviously," Jones said of his nearly 32-minute night. "I think the leaders in the NHL are about 25, 26 maybe right now.
"I’ve always liked 24-25 minutes a year. It’s a lot of minutes, but at the same time, you can still play defense to the best of your ability and then you can play offense as well. Once you start getting up over that, you start getting tired and you’ve got to manage it a little bit more and you’re not able to jump into the play as much as you want to.”
