The Hit-Man: Predators’ Jeremy Lauzon Sets New NHL Record

It took him until the final game of the season, but Nashville Predators defenseman Jeremy Lauzon sits alone at the top of the NHL record book.

The 26-year-old blue-liner entered Monday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins needing nine hits to break Matt Martin’s decade-long record for single-season hits, and he got exactly that.

Lauzon is now the NHL’s new hit king, and he did it in just 79 games (he missed three games with a lower-body injury in mid-March).

“It feels pretty good,” Lauzon said via the team’s official website. “Obviously, that was something I wanted to achieve this year, and I was able to do it. And I guess there’s a lot of years left in my career, so next year, we’ll try to break it again.”

Lauzon’s record-breaking hit came toward the end of the third period.

As he was skating back to defend Penguins forward Rickard Rakell, Lauzon lowered his shoulder, slammed Rakell into the boards and separated him from the puck before spinning around to clear the zone.

Congrats, Jeremy!

Lauzon now holds the record for most hits in a single @NHL season 👏@PredsNHL l #Preds pic.twitter.com/KBFPRbp7I2

— Bally Sports: Preds (@PredsOnBally) April 16, 2024

“He’s obviously been a big part of our team and we’re really happy for the record,” head coach Andrew Brunette said. “It’s going to be a hard record to duplicate. I think he’s turned himself into one of the elite defenders in the League with his length and his skating ability, and obviously his physicality. So. I’m happy for him.”

Martin, a forward for the New York Islanders, had dominated the category for a while. He occupied the top three spots on the single-season hits list, and he was — until this year — the only player in league history to record 365 or more hits in a season.

The new top five is below, with former Predators defenseman Mark Borowiecki rounding out the group, though his 364-hit season came back in 2016 when he was a member of the Ottawa Senators.

1. Lauzon, 383
2. Martin, 382
3. Martin, 374
4. Martin, 365
5. Borowiecki, 364

Lauzon shattered the previous Predators franchise record set by Tanner Jeannot (318) in 2021. He now has the most and third-most hits (250, which he accomplished last season) in Predators history.

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