Borna Rendulić

Borna Rendulić
Born (1992-03-25) 25 March 1992
Zagreb, Croatia
Height 6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Weight 207 lb (94 kg; 14 st 11 lb)
Position Right Wing
Shoots Right
NHL team
Former teams		 Free Agent
Ässät
HPK
Colorado Avalanche
Vancouver Canucks
National team  Croatia
NHL Draft Undrafted
Playing career 2007–present

Borna Rendulić (Croatian pronunciation: [bôːrna rěndulit͡ɕ], born 25 March 1992) is a Croatian professional ice hockey forward who is currently an unrestricted free agent. He most recently played for the Utica Comets in the American Hockey League (AHL) while under contract to the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). Rendulić began playing hockey in Croatia and made his professional debut with KHL Medveščak in 2006, before moving to Finland in 2011 in order to further his career. He played for several teams in both the top-tier SM-liiga and second-tier Mestis, then moved to North America in 2014 when he signed a contract with the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL. Rendulić made his NHL debut that year, the first Croatian-trained player to do so, but spent most of the following two seasons with the Avalanche minor-league affiliates in the AHL. Internationally, Rendulić has played for Croatia in several World Championships, both at the junior and senior level.

Playing career

As 15-year-old, Rendulić made his professional debut with hometown club, KHL Medveščak in the Croatian Ice Hockey League during the 2006–07 season.

He signed for Ässät in 2008 and played for their U18 team and then their U20 team. On 25 January 2011, he was loaned for the remainder of the 2010–11 season to former club Medveščak, now of the Austrian Hockey League.[1] Rendulić featured in 12 games with Zagreb, collecting a goal and an assist.

Upon returning to Ässät, he finally made his debut for the men's team during the 2011–12 season, playing three games whilst also enduring another loan spell, with SaPKo in Mestis.

On 8 May 2012, out of contract with Ässät, Rendulić agreed to a try-out contract with fellow Liiga club, HPK.[2] With a developing, larged-framed body, Rendulić's initial trial with HPK was successful, earning him a one-year contract on 31 August 2012.[3] In the 2012–13 season, Rendulić predominantly played with HPK in a depth forward role to finish with eight goals in 37 games.

Rendulić was signed to a one-year extension and in the following 2013–14 season, he played his first full Liiga season with HPK, establishing a top-nine position to produce career highs of 11 goals and 32 points in 57 games.[4]

On 19 May 2014, Rendulić's successful season earned NHL recognition, and he was subsequently signed to a two-year entry level contract with the Colorado Avalanche.[5] In signing with the Avalanche, Rendulić became the first Croatian born and trained player to earn an NHL contract.[6] After his first training camp and pre-season in Colorado, Rendulic was assigned to begin the 2014–15 season with Colorado's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Lake Erie Monsters. On 9 December 2014, he received his first NHL recall by the injury-hit Avalanche.[7] He became the first Croatian born and trained player to play in the NHL, playing on the Avalanche's fourth-line in a 3–0 defeat to the Nashville Predators.[8][9] Immediately after his second recall to the Avalanche, Rendulić scored his first NHL goal in his fourth game on 31 December 2014, against Steve Mason of the Philadelphia Flyers. However a broken shinbone limited Rendulić to 11 games in the NHL and 26 in the AHL.[10]

On June 27, 2016, having completed his entry-level deal Rendulić's NHL rights were not retained by the Avalanche.[11] Subsequently on July 1, 2016, it was announced that Rendulic had signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Vancouver Canucks.[12] He made his debut for the Canucks on February 28 in a game against the Detroit Red Wings. He was a late addition to the lineup, replacing Jannik Hansen who was traded to the San Jose Sharks later that night.[13]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2006–07 KHL Medveščak CIHL 2 0 0 0 2 — — — — —
2007–08 KHL Medveščak SLO 2 1 0 1 0 — — — — —
2010–11 KHL Medveščak EBEL 12 1 1 2 2 5 1 1 2 6
2011–12 Ässät SM-l 3 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
2011–12 SaPKo Mestis 7 2 3 5 14 — — — — —
2012–13 HPK SM-l 37 8 4 12 6 5 0 1 1 0
2012–13 Peliitat Mestis 5 2 2 4 0 — — — — —
2013–14 HPK Liiga 57 11 21 32 34 6 3 0 3 2
2014–15 Lake Erie Monsters AHL 26 4 4 8 12 — — — — —
2014–15 Colorado Avalanche NHL 11 1 1 2 6 — — — — —
2015–16 Colorado Avalanche NHL 3 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
2015–16 San Antonio Rampage AHL 68 16 22 38 41 — — — — —
2016–17 Utica Comets AHL 69 12 11 23 30 — — — — —
2016–17 Vancouver Canucks NHL 1 0 0 0 0 — — — — —
Liiga totals 97 19 25 44 40 11 3 1 4 2
NHL totals 15 1 1 2 6 — — — — —

International

Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM
2008 Croatia WJC18-D2 5 7 5 12 2
2008 Croatia WJC-D2 5 7 3 10 4
2009 Croatia WJC18-D2 5 3 3 6 2
2009 Croatia WJC-D2 4 0 3 3 4
2009 Croatia WC-D1 5 1 2 3 2
2010 Croatia WJC-D1 5 4 3 7 0
2010 Croatia WC-D1 5 0 1 1 0
2011 Croatia WJC-D1 5 4 5 9 2
2011 Croatia WC-D2 5 8 9 17 6
2012 Croatia WJC-D1 5 3 4 7 0
2012 Croatia WC-D2 5 4 1 5 2
2013 Croatia OGQ 3 1 1 2 14
2013 Croatia WC-D2 5 4 4 8 2
2014 Croatia WC-D1 5 2 2 4 6
2016 Croatia WC-D1 4 2 5 7 0
Junior totals 34 28 26 54 14
Senior totals 37 22 25 47 32

References

  1. ↑ "Borna Rendulic joins Zagreb Bears tomorrow" (in Croatian). KHL Medveščak. 2011-01-25. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
  2. ↑ "HPK to give Borna Rendulic trial" (in Finnish). haeensanomat.fi. 2012-05-08. Retrieved 2012-05-08.
  3. ↑ "Rendulic and Alen continue with EEV" (in Finnish). HPK. 2012-08-31. Retrieved 2012-08-31.
  4. ↑ "Four contracts for HPK" (in Finnish). HPK. 2013-04-23. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
  5. ↑ "Colorado signs five players to entry-level deals". Colorado Avalanche. 2014-05-29. Retrieved 2014-05-29.
  6. ↑ "Croatian superstar Borna Rendulić signed for Avs". khl.hr. 2014-05-19. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  7. ↑ "Borna Rendulic recalled to Colorado". Colorado Avalanche. 2014-12-09. Retrieved 2014-12-09.
  8. ↑ "Who is Borna Rendulic? The NHL's first Croatian National?". Yahoo! Sports. 2014-12-09. Retrieved 2014-12-09.
  9. ↑ Goran Bezina played three games in 2003–04; though born in Croatia, Bezina was raised in Switzerland.
  10. ↑ Manninen, Henrik (2016-04-22). "Homecoming Hero". WMIB2016.IIHF.com. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
  11. ↑ "Avalanche qualify Siemens, let 10 walk". bsndenver.com. 2016-06-27. Retrieved 2016-06-27.
  12. ↑ "Canucks sign Chaput, Rendulic and Billins". Vancouver Canucks. 2016-07-01. Retrieved 2016-07-01.
  13. ↑ Graham, Will. "I Watched This Game: Canucks 2, Red Wings 3 (OT)". Vancouver Courier. Retrieved 2017-03-01.
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