Niko Dimitrakos

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Niko Dimitrakos
Born (1979-05-21) May 21, 1979
Somerville, MA, USA
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight 195 lb (88 kg; 13 st 13 lb)
Position Right Wing
Shoots Right
Liiga team
Former teams 		Ilves
San Jose Sharks
Philadelphia Flyers
Skellefteå AIK
CSKA Moscow
Modo Hockey
Adler Mannheim
Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg
NHL Draft 155th overall, 1999
San Jose Sharks
Playing career 2002–present

Nicholas Dimitrakos (Greek: Niko Δημητράκος; born May 21, 1979 in Somerville, Massachusetts) is a Greek-American professional ice hockey right winger, who currently plays for Tampereen Ilves in the Finnish Liiga.

Playing career

Dimitrakos was first introduced to hockey at age four by his uncle, and has loved and played it ever since. He graduated from Matignon High School (Cambridge, MA) in 1997. After graduation, Niko took a year's postgraduate course at Avon Old Farms (Avon, Ct), a prestigious hockey prep school.

Dimitrakos played his college hockey for the University of Maine Black Bears, helping the team win the 1999 NCAA Championship, and making the 1999 NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team. In his senior year, Dimitrakos led the team in points, with 20 goals and 31 assists in 43 games. While still a UMaine Black Bear, he was drafted by the San Jose Sharks, in the 5th round (155th overall) of the 1999 NHL Entry Draft.

Dimitrakos received his first NHL action toward the end of the 2002–03 NHL season. Sometimes playing on the same line as NHL star Teemu Selänne, he was credited with 6 goals and 7 assists in 21 games as a rookie. The following year, he logged 9 goals and 15 assists in 68 games. Despite his modest regular season statistics, he played well in the 2004 NHL playoffs, winning the first game of the first round against St. Louis with an overtime goal and subsequently helping San Jose advance to the Western Conference finals for the first time in franchise history.

2005–06 was a bit of a disappointing season for Dimitrakos, however, and on March 9, 2006, he was traded by the Sharks to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for a draft pick. He played in 24 games for the Flyers before being demoted to their AHL affiliate, the Philadelphia Phantoms, in October 2006. Following the 2006–07 season, Dimitrakos signed a one-year contract with the Ottawa Senators.

Prior to the 2008–09 season, Dimitrakos signed a one-year contract with Skellefteå in Sweden. Because of his Greek citizenship, he is not counted against the non-EU player limit.

In September 2011, he returned to play in North America - signing a PTO (Professional Tryout) contract with the Vancouver Canucks and attending their training camp.[1] Dimitrakos was later released by the Vancouver Canucks on September 25, 2011.[2] On October 5, 2011, Dimitrakos agreed to a 25 game PTO contract with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to start the 2011–12 season.[3] After 21 games with Wilkes-Barre, Dimitrakos declined an extension to remain in the AHL and returned to his previous team in the DEL, Adler Mannheim, for the remainder of the 2011–12 season.

After contributing to Mannheim's offense to end the year, Dimitrakos signed on a one-year contract with rival DEL team Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg on July 18, 2012.[4]

In January 2014, Dimitrakos signed a contract for the rest of the season with the Finnish team Ilves.[5]

Awards and honors

Award Year
All-Hockey East Second Team 2001–02
  • NCAA Champion with Maine Black Bears in the 1998-1999 season.
  • Named to the NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team in 1999.
  • Named to the NCAA East Second All-American Team in 2002.

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1998–99 University of Maine HE 35 8 19 27 33 — — — — —
1999–00 University of Maine HE 32 11 16 27 16 — — — — —
2000–01 University of Maine HE 29 11 14 25 43 — — — — —
2001–02 University of Maine HE 43 20 31 51 44 — — — — —
2002–03 Cleveland Barons AHL 55 15 29 44 30 — — — — —
2002–03 San Jose Sharks NHL 21 6 7 13 8 — — — — —
2003–04 Cleveland Barons AHL 7 4 4 8 4 — — — — —
2003–04 San Jose Sharks NHL 68 9 15 24 49 15 1 8 9 8
2004–05 SCL Tigers NLA 3 0 1 1 0 6 3 3 6 16
2005–06 San Jose Sharks NHL 45 4 12 16 26 — — — — —
2005–06 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 19 5 4 9 6 5 0 0 0 2
2006–07 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 5 0 0 0 6 — — — — —
2006–07 Philadelphia Phantoms AHL 45 15 13 28 34 — — — — —
2006–07 Chicago Wolves AHL 17 4 10 14 20 15 3 7 10 8
2007–08 Binghamton Senators AHL 64 20 20 40 67 — — — — —
2008–09 Skellefteå AIK SEL 54 22 22 44 59 1 0 0 0 0
2009–10 CSKA Moscow KHL 50 12 5 17 32 3 0 0 0 12
2010–11 Modo Hockey SEL 22 4 1 5 22 — — — — —
2010–11 Adler Mannheim DEL 20 7 8 15 14 6 3 3 6 2
2011–12 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 21 6 4 10 20 — — — — —
2011–12 Adler Mannheim DEL 20 5 9 14 40 4 0 1 1 2
2012–13 Wolfsburg Grizzly Adams DEL 13 4 7 11 8 — — — — —
NHL totals 158 24 38 62 95 20 1 8 9 10
KHL totals 50 12 5 17 32 3 0 0 0 12

References

  1. ↑ "Niko Dimitrakos is also going to Canucks camp". The Province. 2011-09-21. Retrieved 2011-09-21. 
  2. ↑ "Canucks make training camp roster moves". Yahoo! Sports. 2011-09-25. Retrieved 2011-09-25. 
  3. ↑ "Penguins sign NHL'er Dimitrakos to PTO". Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. 2011-10-05. Retrieved 2011-10-05. 
  4. ↑ "Dimitrakos bursts into orange" (in German). Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg. 2012-07-18. Retrieved 2012-07-18. 
  5. ↑ "Amerikkalaishyökkääjä Niko Dimitrakos liittyi Ilvekseen" (in Finnish). Ilves. 2014-01-28. Retrieved 2014-01-31. 

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Blake Bellefeuille		 William Flynn Tournament Most Valuable Player
2000 		Succeeded by
Chuck Kobasew
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