More than 15 seasons ago, the initial draft for the EURO League was held. A total of 624 players were drafted through 26 rounds. Boy, it seemed to take a long time. 

Only two of those 624 players have been with their original team ever since … and one has still never gotten into a game. 24th-round pick Jarred Tinordi is in his 15th season as a member of Oslo’s farm club in Bergen, Norway. 

The other of the two will soon reach 1,000 games played with his franchise. Mika Zibanejad is still with Bern, who took him in the 15th round. In that sense, you could consider that pick as the one that paid off the most in that draft. 

The Swedish forward didn’t play much the first two seasons, but he has been a regular from Season 3 to this year. Five times, including the last two seasons, he finished as the team’s top scorer with 94 and 96 points. He’s 32 now and he has been an all-star once.

This season, the Interrail have him centering the top line again with Mark Stone and Sebastian Aho, although they are off to a slow start. Zibanejad has 6 points in 10 games.

In 988 career games, Zibanejad has scored 304 goals and 804 points. He also has 42 points in 48 playoff games. Zibanejad’s current contract – a deal for $9.6 million – expires at the end of the season.