Geoff Sanderson

Geoff Sanderson
Born February 1, 1972
Hay River, NT, CAN
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 190 lb (86 kg; 13 st 8 lb)
Position Left Wing
Shot Left
Played for Hartford Whalers
Carolina Hurricanes
Vancouver Canucks
Buffalo Sabres
Columbus Blue Jackets
Phoenix Coyotes
Philadelphia Flyers
Edmonton Oilers
National team  Canada
NHL Draft 36th overall, 1990
Hartford Whalers
Playing career 1991–2008

Geoffrey M. Sanderson (born February 1, 1972) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey left winger, most notably for the Hartford Whalers and Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL). Sanderson is currently a scout for the New York Islanders.[1] Sanderson is the only NHL player to have been raised in the Northwest Territories, a place in which he grew up while his father worked as a pharmacist in the now defunct town of Pine Point, Northwest Territories. As a teenager, he relocated with his family to Edmonton.

Playing career

Drafted by the Hartford Whalers 36th overall in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, Sanderson made his NHL debut at the tail end of the 1990–91 season. After playing in 64 games in his first full season for the club in 1991–92, he registered career highs in goals (46), assists (43), and points (89) in 1992–93. Sanderson spent his first six NHL seasons with Hartford and played half a season with the franchise when they moved to Carolina. He was traded to the Vancouver Canucks in January 1998 and a little over a month later was sent to the Buffalo Sabres. He saw the most playoff action of his career during his three seasons with Buffalo, making it to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998–99.

Left unprotected by Buffalo during the 2000 NHL Expansion Draft, Sanderson joined the Columbus Blue Jackets and scored 30-plus goals in 2000–01 and 2002–03. He was the first Blue Jacket to score a Hat Trick. He returned to Vancouver at the trade deadline in 2003–04 and was reclaimed by Columbus off waivers in the off-season which was a condition of the trade. Once the 2004–05 NHL lockout came to an end, Sanderson was traded two games into the 2005–06 season to the Phoenix Coyotes. After scoring 25 goals in 75 games with Phoenix, Sanderson signed a two-year contract with the Philadelphia Flyers in the off-season.

A disappointing year with Philadelphia resulted in Sanderson being traded to Edmonton with Joni Pitkanen in exchange for Joffrey Lupul and former Oilers captain Jason Smith. Sanderson scored two goals against Philadelphia the first time he played against his former team. Following the 2008 season, Edmonton declined to tender Sanderson a contract, and while he has not yet formally announced his retirement, he has not played professional hockey since.

He has two cousins who also play in the NHL, Wade Brookbank and Sheldon Brookbank.

Awards

Career statistics

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1987–88 St. Albert Royals AMHL 45 65 55 120 175 — — — — —
1988–89 Swift Current Broncos WHL 58 17 11 28 16 12 3 5 8 6
1988–89 Swift Current Broncos M-Cup — — — — — 2 0 0 0 0
1989–90 Swift Current Broncos WHL 70 32 62 94 56 4 1 4 5 8
1990–91 Swift Current Broncos WHL 70 62 50 112 57 3 1 2 3 4
1990–91 Hartford Whalers NHL 2 1 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 0
1990–91 Springfield Indians AHL — — — — — 1 0 0 0 2
1991–92 Hartford Whalers NHL 64 13 18 31 18 7 1 0 1 2
1992–93 Hartford Whalers NHL 82 46 43 89 28 — — — — —
1993–94 Hartford Whalers NHL 82 41 26 67 42 — — — — —
1994–95 HPK Hameenlinna FNL 12 6 4 10 24 — — — — —
1994–95 Hartford Whalers NHL 46 18 14 32 24 — — — — —
1995–96 Hartford Whalers NHL 81 34 31 65 40 — — — — —
1996–97 Hartford Whalers NHL 82 36 31 67 29 — — — — —
1997–98 Carolina Hurricanes NHL 40 7 10 17 14 — — — — —
1997–98 Vancouver Canucks NHL 9 0 3 3 4 — — — — —
1997–98 Buffalo Sabres NHL 26 4 5 9 20 14 3 1 4 4
1998–99 Buffalo Sabres NHL 75 12 18 30 22 19 4 6 10 14
1999–00 Buffalo Sabres NHL 67 13 13 26 22 5 0 2 2 8
2000–01 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 68 30 26 56 46 — — — — —
2001–02 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 42 11 5 16 12 — — — — —
2002–03 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 82 34 33 67 34 — — — — —
2003–04 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 67 13 16 29 34 — — — — —
2003–04 Vancouver Canucks NHL 13 3 4 7 4 7 1 1 2 4
2004–05 Genève-Servette HC Swiss-A 9 4 1 5 29 — — — — —
2005–06 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 2 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
2005–06 Phoenix Coyotes NHL 75 25 21 46 58 — — — — —
2006–07 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 58 11 18 29 44 — — — — —
2007–08 Edmonton Oilers NHL 41 3 10 13 16 — — — — —
NHL totals 1104 355 345 700 511 55 9 10 19 32

International play

Played for Canada in:

International statistics

Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM
1993 Canada WC 8 3 3 6 2
1994 Canada WC 8 4 2 6 8
1997 Canada WC 11 3 2 5 2

See also

References

  1. ↑

External links