When Chris Phillips announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 2016 season, he joined Gilbert Perreault and Denis Potvin as the only first overall draft picks to play an entire career of more than 1000 games all with his original franchise.
Phillips was no superstar like Perreault or Potvin. Instead he was the definition of a "stay-at-home defenseman" both literally and figuratively.
The Ottawa Senators drafted Phillips first overall in the 1996 NHL draft. He would go on to play 1179 regular season games with the Senators, and another 114 in the playoffs.
Through it all he saw superstars - Alexei Yashin, Dany Heatley, Zdeno Chara, Jason Spezza, Daniel Alfredsson - come and go. He saw coaches fires, playoff collapses and even the team filing for bankruptcy.
Through it all Chris Phillips was the one constant in the nation's capital city.
Full Chris Phillips Biography
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