Wade Redden

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Position	Defence
Shoots	Left
Nickname(s)	Reds
Height Weight	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 208 lb (94 kg/14 st 12 lb)
NHL Team	Ottawa Senators
Nationality	Canada
Born	June 12, 1977 (1977-06-12) (age 30), Lloydminster, SK, CAN
NHL Draft	2nd overall, 1995 New York Islanders
Pro career	1996 – present

Wade Redden (born June 12, 1977, in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, Canada) is a professional ice hockey defenceman for the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League. He is an alternate captain of the Senators and has played over 800 games as a Senator. He has been named to play for Canada internationally seven times, winning two gold medals in the World Junior Championships and once in the World Cup of Hockey.

[edit] Personal life

As a youngster, Wade played hockey and fastball. Wade completed Kindergarten to grade nine at the Hillmond School. He then went to attend the Lloydminster Comprehensive School for grade ten, and then he completed grade 11, and lastly 12 in Brandon, Manitoba. He is the youngest of three children and has an older sister Niki and an older brother Bart. In 1987, he won the Saskatchewan Hackey Sack championship. He was also involved in the filming of the television show, Road Hockey Rumble in his hometown.

Since moving to Ottawa to play NHL hockey, he has become involved in the Ottawa community. Redden has a suite at the Scotiabank Place named Wade's World reserved for critically and terminally-ill children, that he has payed for since 1997.^[1] He is also involved with the charity "65 Roses Club" committed to raise money for cystic fibrosis research.^[2]

During the off-season Redden and fiancee Danica Topolnisky have a home near Kelowna, British Columbia. After two years of involvement, the couple became engaged in September 2007.^[3] The couple are to be married in August 2008.^[4]

[edit] Playing career

Wade Redden played minor hockey with the teams at Hillmond High School, and the Mid West Red Wings, which were from the rural area. After that Wade played one year with the Lloydminster Blazers, before joining the Brandon Wheat Kings. After that Wade was named rookie of the year. The Wheat Kings would make it to two Memorial Cup while Redden was a member of the team. Wade would be a member of the 1995 and 1996 Canadian teams at the World Junior Hockey Championships, both teams winning gold medals.

He was the New York Islanders' first pick in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, second overall, but he never joined the Islanders. He was then traded to Ottawa by the Islanders along with Damian Rhodes for Don Beaupre, Martin Straka and Bryan Berard on January 23, 1996. The trade had become necessary on the Senators part to move Berard, who refused to join the Senators, a team in turmoil at the time.

Redden joined the Senators for the 1996–97 season, making the team out of his first training camp. He scored his first NHL goal on his first shot, against Jocelyn Thibault of the Montreal Canadiens on 1996-10-05.^[5] Redden would be named "NHL Rookie of the Month" for April 1997, and was an important part of the team's drive to qualify for the playoffs that season.^[6] The team would go on to make the playoffs that season, the first time in the modern Senator's history. The team has qualified for the playoffs in every season following.

By the 1999–2000 season, Redden was an important part of the team. On 1999-10-02, Redden was named alternate captain of the Senators, a position he has held for nine seasons ever since.^[7] Near the end of the 99–2000 season he suffered an ankle injury, forcing him to miss the playoffs, a contributing factor in the Senators losing in the first round to Toronto.

In the 2000–01 season Redden continued his improvement, averaging over 25 minutes of ice time per game, scoring 37 assists, a three-point game and several two-point games. After the Senators were eliminated from the NHL playoffs, he was named to the Canadian national team for the first time, for the 2001 World Championship.

He would be named to the NHL All-Star Game in 2002 to represent the Senators. Later, in 2004, he would be named to the All-Star Game for a second time. He would have nine multi-point games in 2002–03 and would set a personal best of 17 goals in the 2003–04 season. He was named to the gold-medal winning Canadian team for the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. He would also play for Canada in the 2005 World Championship.

In the 2005–06 NHL season, he missed games because of a knee injury and to be with his mother, Pat as she battled cancer. Redden finished the season with a career-high 50 points, and a league-leading +/- of 35, in 65 games. He had twelve multi-point games including a four-point game against the New York Rangers on 2005-12-26.^[8] Redden was selected for the Canadian Olympic team along with teammate Dany Heatley.

After the 2005–2006 season, the Senators were faced with having their two top defencemen (Redden and Zdeno Chara) becoming unrestricted free agents, and having to choose to sign only one to keep the team salaries within the league-mandated salary cap. The Senators chose Redden and the Senators and Redden agreed on a two-year contract worth $13 million with a no-trade clause, and Chara signed with the Boston Bruins. His salary made him the highest paid player on the team and the media and fans expected another top-notch season. The 2006–07 NHL season was a difficult one for Redden, playing with a new defensive partner, Andrej Meszaros, who had played with Chara. However, by the time of the playoffs, Redden and Meszaros had jelled and were a strong pairing for the Senators. Redden participated in all of Ottawa's run to the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals, recording 10 points in 20 playoff games. The Senators lost to the Anaheim Ducks in 5 games.

The 2007-08 season was eventful for Redden. Newly-promoted general manager Bryan Murray attempted to trade Redden to the Edmonton Oilers during the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.^[9] Redden turned down the trade proposal. The team took off like a shot winning 14 of its first 15 games. This play masked several deficiencies which eventually led to the team narrowly making the playoffs only to lose in the first round. Trade rumours would swirl around Redden for most of the season. Redden remained a starter with the team and he played in his 800th career NHL game, all with the Senators, on January 10, 2008, against the Buffalo Sabres.

As the team started to slump, Murray started to look for solutions to turn the team around. In February 2008, it was revealed that Redden used the no trade clause in his contract to kill a deal that would have sent him to the San Jose Sharks for Matt Carle and a draft pick.^[10] As the leaked deal became public, Redden publicly declared his desire to win the Stanley Cup with Ottawa, at the time still the Eastern Conference leader. Within weeks of the aborted trade, the Sharks surpassed Ottawa in the league-wide standings, and the Senators performance continued to decline, the coach was fired and the team struggled into the playoffs.

Redden's numbers improved slightly over the previous season, but this was overshadowed by the size of his contract and the team's overall performance. The 2007-08 season was also the last season of the contract and speculation about his re-signing was regularly discussed in the media. Redden made clear that he would take a 'hometown discount', taking less money to stay in Ottawa. After the season, the media openly speculated that Redden would be leaving the Senators.^[11]

[edit] Awards

• WHL Rookie of the Year - 1994
• WHL East Second All-Star Team - 1995
• WHL East First All-Star Team - 1996
• Memorial Cup All-Star Team - 1996
• NHL Rookie of the Month - April 1997
• Played in NHL All-Star Game - 2002
• NHL Defensive Player of the Month - January 2004
• Named to NHL All-Star Game - 2004 (did not play due to flu)
• NHL Plus/Minus Award - 2006 (joint winner)

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] International play

Played for Canada in:

• 1995 World Junior Championships (gold medal)
• 1996 World Junior Championships (gold medal)
• 1999 World Championships
• 2001 World Championships
• 2004 World Cup of Hockey (gold medal)
• 2005 World Championships (silver medal)
• 2006 Winter Olympics (failed to medal)

[edit] International statistics

[edit] References

• (2007) Ottawa Senators 2007–08 Media Guide. Ottawa Senators. 

[edit] See also

• List of Ottawa Senators players
• List of NHL players
• List of NHL seasons

[edit] External links

• Wade Redden's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Wade Redden at TSN.ca
• Q & A with Wade Redden