Tim Stapleton

Timothy Gabriel Stapleton (born July 19, 1982) is an American former professional ice hockey center. He played in the National Hockey League with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Atlanta Thrashers and Winnipeg Jets. In 2011, Stapleton scored the last goal in Thrashers' history.

Tim Stapleton
Born (1982-07-19) July 19, 1982
La Grange, Illinois, U.S.
Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Weight 180 lb (82 kg; 12 st 12 lb)
Position Center
Shot Right
Played for Jokerit
Toronto Maple Leafs
Atlanta Thrashers
Winnipeg Jets
HC Dinamo Minsk
Ak Bars Kazan
Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk
Metallurg Magnitogorsk
HC Lugano
Färjestad BK
HC Spartak Moscow
ERC Ingolstadt
National team  United States
NHL Draft Undrafted
Playing career 2006–2018

Playing career

Undrafted, Stapleton played for two seasons with the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL. Stapleton then represented the University of Minnesota Duluth for four seasons, where he led the team in scoring as a freshman and had back-to-back 40 point seasons.

After a brief stint with the Portland Pirates of the AHL, he signed with Jokerit of the Finnish SM-liiga, completing a tryout which led to a one-year contract. During his first Jokerit season, Stapleton won the SM-liiga silver medal and finished second in playoff scoring.

On June 6, 2008, Stapleton signed as a free agent to the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 2008–09 season.[1] Stapleton was assigned to the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League on September 26, 2008.

On 26 February 2009, Stapleton played his first career NHL game with the Toronto Maple Leafs, scoring the shootout winner.[2] In his next game Stapleton was credited with his first NHL goal against the Ottawa Senators, goaltender Brian Elliott on February 28, 2009.[3]

On July 1, 2009, Stapleton was traded to the Atlanta Thrashers with Pavel Kubina for Garnet Exelby and Colin Stuart.[4] After signing with the Thrashers, Stapleton was then assigned to affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, for the 2009–10 season.[5]

For the 2010–2011 season, Stapleton signed a Professional Try-out agreement with the San Antonio Rampage of the AHL. On November 30, 2010, Stapleton was signed to a 2-year contract by the Atlanta Thrashers.[6]

On February 27, 2011, Stapleton scored his first goal since April 16, 2010. It was against his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was invited and accepted an invitation to join the USA hockey team for the 2011 IIHF tournament.

On April 10, 2011, Stapleton scored a goal in the 3rd period against the Pittsburgh Penguins. This was the last game of the season for the Thrashers and would be the last goal in their history. The following season, the Thrashers, including Stapleton, moved to Canada to become the Winnipeg Jets. For the first time Stapleton remained at the NHL level for an entire season, often playing the point on the power play despite playing his even-strength minutes as a third- or fourth-line forward; partly because of this, he logged career highs (and more than doubled his career NHL totals) in games played, goals, assists and points.

Despite this performance, Stapleton was not re-signed by the Jets when his contract expired the following summer. On July 10, 2012, it was announced that Stapleton had agreed to terms with Dinamo Minsk of the KHL. After a good performance with Dinamo, he signed in 2013 a two-year deal with Ak Bars Kazan.

After only one-season with Ak Bars, Stapleton was released from the remaining year of his contract and joined fellow KHL club, Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk on a one-year deal on July 11, 2014.[7] Stapleton was traded to Metallurg Magnitogorsk on December 15, 2014.[8]

On April 17, 2015, Stapleton left the KHL and signed a one-year contract with Swiss club, EHC Biel of the NLA.[9]

On August 1, 2016 he signed with the Karlstad-based, Swedish club Färjestad BK, of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). After collecting just 4 points in 20 games, he parted company with the team on November 26, 2016, and inked a deal with HC Spartak Moscow in a return to the KHL for the remainder of the 2016–17 campaign the following day.[10][11]

On April 21, 2017, Stapleton agreed to a one-year contract with EHC Olten of the Swiss League (SL).[12] He contributed with 21 points in 29 games before opting to leave Switzerland and join German club, ERC Ingolstadt of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga for the closing stages of the 2017–18 season on January 6, 2018.[13]

Personal info

Despite being born and raised in the Chicago area, Stapleton is not related to 1970s Chicago Blackhawks star defenseman Pat Stapleton or former Winnipeg Jets and Atlanta Thrashers forward Mike Stapleton, despite wearing the latter's number with both franchises. Stapleton is half Filipino and half Irish.[14]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs
Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2000–01 Green Bay Gamblers USHL 52 7 15 22 8 4 1 2 3 4
2001–02 Green Bay Gamblers USHL 61 24 36 60 10 7 4 7 11 0
2002–03 U. of Minnesota-Duluth WCHA 42 14 28 42 6 — — — — —
2003–04 U. of Minnesota-Duluth WCHA 43 16 25 41 18 — — — — —
2004–05 U. of Minnesota-Duluth WCHA 38 19 20 39 6 — — — — —
2005–06 U. of Minnesota-Duluth WCHA 39 14 16 30 4 — — — — —
2005–06 Portland Pirates AHL 9 0 5 5 4 4 0 0 0 2
2006–07 Jokerit SM-l 56 19 29 48 28 10 6 4 10 8
2007–08 Jokerit SM-l 55 28 33 61 36 14 9 8 17 8
2008–09 Toronto Marlies AHL 70 28 51 79 26 6 2 0 2 2
2008–09 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 4 1 0 1 0 — — — — —
2009–10 Chicago Wolves AHL 73 30 29 59 18 14 4 9 13 12
2009–10 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 6 2 0 2 2 — — — — —
2010–11 San Antonio Rampage AHL 20 8 7 15 2 — — — — —
2010–11 Chicago Wolves AHL 4 1 3 4 2 — — — — —
2010–11 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 45 5 2 7 12 — — — — —
2011–12 Winnipeg Jets NHL 63 11 16 27 10 — — — — —
2012–13 Dinamo Minsk KHL 52 24 16 40 30 — — — — —
2013–14 Ak Bars Kazan KHL 54 16 17 33 16 6 0 1 1 2
2014–15 Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk KHL 37 14 12 26 30 — — — — —
2014–15 Metallurg Magnitogorsk KHL 18 4 1 5 10 9 4 0 4 14
2015–16 EHC Biel NLA 24 5 8 13 20 — — — — —
2015–16 HC Lugano NLA 19 6 8 14 8 5 1 0 1 6
2016–17 Färjestad BK SHL 20 1 3 4 4 — — — — —
2016–17 HC Spartak Moscow KHL 22 1 6 7 4 — — — — —
2017–18 EHC Olten SL 29 9 12 21 6 — — — — —
2017–18 ERC Ingolstadt DEL 8 3 6 9 0 5 1 0 1 0
NHL totals 118 19 18 37 24 — — — — —
Medal record
Representing the  United States
Ice hockey
World Championships
2013 Sweden/Finland

International
Year Team Event Result GP G A Pts PIM
2011 United States WC 8th 7 0 1 1 0
2013 United States WC 10 2 3 5 2
2014 United States WC 6th 8 0 2 2 2
Senior totals 25 2 6 8 4

References
  1. "Leafs ink Stapleton". Toronto Maple Leafs. 2008-06-06. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
  2. "Maple Leafs 5, Islanders 4". CBS Sports. 2009-02-26. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
  3. "With NHL on his mind, Wolves Stapleton glad to be home". DailyHerald. 2009-11-24. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
  4. "Thrashers acquire Kubina and Stapleton from Toronto". Atlanta Thrashers. 2008-07-01. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
  5. "Thrashers agree to terms with three RFA's". Atlanta Thrashers. 2009-07-17. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
  6. "Thrashers Sign F Tim Stapleton; Activate F Patrice Cormier from IR and Assign to Chicago (AHL)". Atlanta Thrashers. 2010-11-30. Retrieved 2010-11-30.
  7. "Stapleton receives contract offer from Neftekhimik" (in Russian). Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk. 2014-07-11. Retrieved 2014-07-11.
  8. "Stapleton traded to Magnitogorsk". Metallurg Magnitogorsk. 2014-12-15. Retrieved 2014-12-15.
  9. "EHC Biel committed to Tim Stapleton" (in German). EHC Biel. 2015-04-17. Retrieved 2015-04-17.
  10. "Tim Stapleton lämnar Färjestad". Färjestad BK. Retrieved 2016-11-26.
  11. "Tim Stapleton signs with Spartak". HC Spartak Moscow (in Russian). 2016-11-27. Archived from the original on 2016-11-27. Retrieved 2016-11-27.
  12. "EHC Olten signs Tim Stapleton, captain Stefan Hürlimann leaves the club". www.swisshockeynews.ch. Retrieved 2017-04-21.
  13. "ERC brings in Tim Stapleton" (in German). ERC Ingolstadt. 2018-01-06. Retrieved 2018-01-06.
  14. "Bulldog Sportlight: Time Stapleton". Men's Hockey. University of Minnesota Duluth. 8 November 2005. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
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