Angelo Esposito
| Angelo Esposito | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | February 20, 1989 Mount Royal, Quebec, Canada |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) |
| Weight | 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb) |
| Position | Centre |
| Shoots | Left |
| team Former teams |
Free Agent Chicago Wolves San Antonio Rampage Texas Stars Lahti Pelicans Milano Rossoblu |
| NHL Draft | 20th overall, 2007 Pittsburgh Penguins |
| Playing career | 2008–present |
Angelo Esposito (born February 20, 1989) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is currently an unrestricted free agent who most recently played for the Fort Wayne Komets of the ECHL and who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round (twentieth overall) of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. He has also played in the Dallas Stars organization but has never played an NHL game.
Playing career
QMJHL
Esposito's Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) career started in controversy. He was considered a possible first overall draft choice in the QMJHL, but told all general managers that he intended to play college hockey in the NCAA. As a result, he was passed up by the first ten picks in the QMJHL Draft. Just minutes before the Val-d'Or Foreurs were slated to make their pick, at eleventh overall, the Quebec Remparts announced that they had traded several players and draft choices to get the Foreurs' drafting position and selected Esposito. A couple of weeks later, Esposito and the Remparts came to an agreement, despite his previously announced college hockey commitment.
Esposito began his QMJHL rookie season, in 2005–06, centering the first line. Esposito scored in his first regular season game on his very first shift against the Rimouski Océanic. By mid-season, Esposito was selected QMJHL Rookie of the Month twice and the Offensive Player of the Week once. However, after playing at the World U17 Hockey Challenge as the captain of Team Quebec, Esposito's offensive production slowed and was temporarily assigned to the third line at one point in the season. He finished his rookie campaign with 98 points, second among QMJHL's rookies, behind Claude Giroux, and was named the league rookie of the year. Along with wingers Mathieu Melanson (86 points) and Alexander Radulov (152 points), the Remparts' first line was the most productive scoring line in the entire league. Despite losing in the President's Cup final series 4–2 to the Moncton Wildcats, Esposito and the Remparts earned a berth in the 2006 Memorial Cup as runner up to the tournament hosts. Although Esposito struggled in the QMJHL playoffs with just 11 points in 23 games, he contributed a strong 5-point effort in 4 games during the Memorial Cup, helping the Remparts to a 6–2 victory in the final against Moncton.
Impressing many in his major junior rookie season, Esposito was touted early as a possible first-overall pick for the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.[1] He had, in fact, already drawn comparisons to former Remparts star Guy Lafleur.[2] However, declining offensive production at the junior level – his points total fell from 98 to 79 – led to him eventually being picked twentieth overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Esposito's offensive output declined once more to 69 points in his third QMJHL season in 2007–08. On February 26, 2008, the Penguins traded his NHL rights to the Atlanta Thrashers along with Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, and a 2008 first-round draft pick in a trade-deadline deal for Marián Hossa and Pascal Dupuis.[3]
Professional
At the conclusion of his 2007–08 season with the Remparts, he made his professional debut with the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League (AHL).[4] In the off-season, he was traded in the QMJHL by the Remparts to the Montreal Juniors on June 7, 2008. On July 8, 2011, he was traded to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Kenndal McArdle. On January 13, 2012, he was traded to the Dallas Stars for Ondrej Roman, the third time he had been traded by a NHL organization without having played a single game in the NHL. After the 2011-2012 season was over Esposito didn't receive a qualifying offer and thus became an unrestricted free agent.[5] The term "draft bust" began to be used in describing Esposito.[6]
On July 26, 2012, he signed a one-year contract with Finnish hockey club Pelicans from Lahti.[7] After producing 7 points in 29 games in the 2012–13 season with the Pelicans, Esposito was mutually released from the remainder of his contract and immediately moved to play in Italy with Hockey Milano Rossoblu from Milan on January 17, 2013.
On July 21, 2014, Esposito returned to North America and signed a one-year contract in the ECHL with the Fort Wayne Komets.[8] Esposito went scoreless in the season opening game of the 2014-15 season with the Komets, before he was waived and released from his contract soon after on October 18, 2014.[9]
International play
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Competitor for  Canada
| ||
| Ice hockey | ||
| World Junior Championships | ||
| Gold | 2009 Canada | |
| Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament | ||
| Gold | 2006 Czech Republic | |
| World U17 Hockey Challenge | ||
| Gold | 2006 Canada | |
Esposito competed for Team Quebec as captain during his QMJHL rookie season in the 2006 World U-17 Hockey Challenge, capturing gold. Later that year, he also captained Team Canada's under-18 squad at the 2006 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament and won another gold medal. After three years of being cut from Team Canada's World Junior Championships selection camp, he eventually made the team for the 2009 World Junior Championships in Ottawa.[10] He scored 4 points in 6 games, including the game-winning goal in the gold medal game, helping Team Canada to its record-tying fifth straight gold medal.[11]
Awards
- Named Player of the Week for September 26–October 2, 2005.
- Named Rookie of the Month for October and November 2005.
- Awarded the Michel Bergeron Trophy (offensive rookie of the year) in 2006
- Named to the QMJHL All-Rookie Team in 2006.
Personal life
Born in Montréal, Québec, Esposito grew up figure skating before beginning to play organized hockey at the age of six. At ten-years-old, he made the decision between the two sports to focus on hockey.[12] He attended high school first at Selwyn House School then Shattuck-Saint Mary's in Faribault, Minnesota, following in the footsteps of such NHL stars as Sidney Crosby, Zach Parise and Jonathan Toews.[12]
Despite his last name, famous in hockey circles, Esposito is not related to Hockey Hall of Famers Phil and Tony Esposito. He does, however, have uncles named Phil and Tony,[2] in addition to sharing Phil Esposito's jersey number 7 and February 20 birth date.[12]
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 2004–05 | Shattuck-Saint Mary's | Midget AAA | 68 | 31 | 35 | 66 | 47 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2005–06 | Quebec Remparts | QMJHL | 57 | 39 | 59 | 98 | 45 | 23 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 4 | ||
| 2006–07 | Quebec Remparts | QMJHL | 60 | 27 | 52 | 79 | 63 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 2 | ||
| 2007–08 | Quebec Remparts | QMJHL | 56 | 30 | 39 | 69 | 69 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 6 | ||
| 2007–08 | Chicago Wolves | AHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2008–09 | Montreal Juniors | QMJHL | 35 | 24 | 18 | 42 | 25 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2009–10 | Chicago Wolves | AHL | 12 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2010–11 | Chicago Wolves | AHL | 57 | 3 | 10 | 13 | 35 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2011–12 | San Antonio Rampage | AHL | 16 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 8 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2011–12 | Cincinnati Cyclones | ECHL | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2011–12 | Texas Stars | AHL | 38 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 19 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2012–13 | Lahti Pelicans | SM-l | 29 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 10 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2012–13 | Milano Rossoblu | ITL | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2013–14 | HC Bolzano | ITL | 35 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 14 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2014–15 | Fort Wayne Komets | ECHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| AHL totals | 124 | 10 | 28 | 38 | 64 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
International
| Year | Team | Event | Result | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Canada Quebec | WHC17 |  |
6 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2007 | Canada | WJC18 | |
6 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2009 | Canada | WJC | |
6 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | |
| Junior totals | 18 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 4 | ||||
References
- ↑ "Rating top NHL prospects goes down to the wire". USA Today. 2007-03-27. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Humble Esposito flattered by praise". Regina Leader Post. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
- ↑ "Penguins get Hossa, hoping he's the missing piece to their Cup". ESPN. 2008-02-27. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
- ↑ "Angelo Esposito Official Player Page". atlantathrashers.com. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
- ↑ "Dallas Stars Extend Qualifying Offers to Six Players". Dallas Cowboys site. 2012-06-18. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
- ↑ Will Angelo Esposito Ever Make The NHL? http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2011/07/11/will-angelo-esposito-ever-make-the-nhl/
- ↑ "Angelo Esposito Pelicans-paitaan" (in Finnish). Lahti Pelicans site. 2012-07-26. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
- ↑ "Komets add four to roster, Ouellet re-signs". Fort Wayne Komets. 2014-07-21. Retrieved 2014-07-21.
- ↑ "Komets beat Fuel in season opener". Journal Gazette. 2014-10-18. Retrieved 2014-10-18.
- ↑ "Canadian world junior squad named". CBC. 2008-12-15. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
- ↑ "Canada Defeats Sweden to Win Fifth Straight WJHC Gold". TSN. 2009-01-05. Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 2009-01-06.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "Esposito focuses on NHL dream". The Gazette. 2008-10-31. Retrieved 2008-12-15.
External links
- Angelo Esposito's career statistics at EliteProspects.com
- Angelo Esposito's player profile at NHL.com
- Angelo Esposito's career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Jordan Staal |
Pittsburgh Penguins first round draft pick 2007 |
Succeeded by Simon Després |