Good stuff, Bench - I didn't know that. And unfortunately, in the cap era, that kind of approach simply can't work because of the general size of these deals. And it really doesn't work when those players aren't actually playing like a good team.
Here's the list of guys who were on the team 8 seasons ago, in 2009-2010, and remained this season.
Zetterberg (signed to 2021)
Helm (2021)
Kronwall (2019)
Ericsson (2020)
Abdelkader (2023)
Howard (2019)
Miller
Also consider Datsyuk and Franzen were still under contract for this year. The list could have potentially been 9 players. Of the group above, only Miller won't be on contract next year. Tatar was activated (briefly) in 2010-2011, so it will be his 7th season next year, if you want to get technical.
San Jose has had lots of retention of core players since 2009-2010, and taken a similar approach to the Wings in re-tooling than rebuilding, but look at the difference in these names retained during that time.
Thornton
Marleau
Pavelski (2019)
Vlasic (2020)
Couture (2019)
Thornton and Marleau are due for new deals this season.