Long-Timers: John Tonelli

In the 102-year history of the National Hockey League, 348 individuals have played 1,000 or more regular season games. 44 of them, or 12.6%, have played some part of their career with the Atlanta or Calgary Flames. We call these players Long-Timers.

Let’s take a look at John Tonelli.

A product of Milton, Ontaro, Tonelli was a standout junior player with the Toronto Marlboros. He was signed as an 18-year-old by the WHA’s Houston Aeros – the NHL Draft was for 20-year-olds back then – and played three seasons for them. He was drafted by the New York Islanders in the second round of the 1977 NHL Draft and the Islanders claimed his rights when the Aeros folded in 1978.

Jumping to the NHL, Tonelli kept growing his game. Already established as a rising two-way forward, he began posting some impressive offensive numbers. He had two 30-goal seasons and one 40-goal season with the Islanders, hitting 100 points in 1984-85. Tonelli won four Stanley Cups with the Islanders and received Selke votes in four different seasons.

Obviously this excited the Flames, so they traded for Tonelli at the 1986 trade deadline – they were already in Long Island, so he went down the hallway to join the Flames. Richard Kromm and Steve Konroyd went the other way. Tonelli spent two more seasons with the Flames and left via free agency.

Tonelli bounced around a bit after he left Calgary. He spent three seasons with Los Angeles, then split his final season between Chicago and Quebec. He wasn’t the player he was with the Islanders, but he was still useful. He hit the 1,000 game mark in his final season.

Tonelli was an excellent secondary player. He was never an elite player, but he was almost elite. He never won a Selke or a scoring title, but he played in five Stanley Cup Finals over six seasons – he was definitely doing a lot of things right.