Bill Muckalt

Bill Muckalt (born July 15, 1974 in Surrey, British Columbia) is a retired Canadian ice hockey forward.

Career
Bill Muckalt came up through the British Columbia Hockey League, playing for the Merritt Centennials and briefly with the Kelowna Spartans before enrolling at the University of Michigan in 1994. Muckalt played four years for the Wolverines and was named to the NCAA West First All-Star Team in his senior year in 1998. The school won two NCAA titles while Muckalt was a sophomore in 1996 and a senior in 1998. The 1996 championship team also boasted the likes of future NHLers Brendan Morrison, Jason Botterill and goalie Marty Turco.

Muckalt was selected in the ninth round (221st overall) of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft by his hometown Vancouver Canucks. He had matured tremendously during his four years in Michigan and was ready to make a bid for a full-time roster spot in the NHL with the Canucks in 1998–99. He would play in 73 games during his rookie season, scoring 16 goals and 36 points, becoming a rising star in Vancouver.

Despite this early success in Vancouver, Muckalt was traded to the New York Islanders along with Dave Scatchard and goalie Kevin Weekes in exchange for goalie Felix Potvin and draft picks midway through the 1999–00 season. He spent the remainder of that season and all of the next on Long Island before being being involved in a blockbuster trade. On June 23, 2001, Muckalt was dealt to the Ottawa Senators along with up-and-coming defenseman Zdeno Chara and the Islanders first round pick in 2001 (which Ottawa would use to select Jason Spezza), in exchange for star centre Alexei Yashin.

Muckalt spent only one season with Ottawa (registering no goals and 8 assists in 70 games) before signing as a free agent with the Minnesota Wild in the summer of 2002. After failing to score a single goal during the previous season, Muckalt came roaring out of the gate in 2002–03, registering 5 goals and 8 points in his first 5 games with Minnesota before dislocating his right shoulder in a game vs. the Calgary Flames on October 22, 2002. The injury was severe enough to end Muckalt's season and keep him sidelined for the majority of the next as well. Sadly, he would never play another regular season NHL game, though he did attempt a comeback with the AHL's Houston Aeros, registering 3 assists in 9 games in 2003-04.

He would later sign a free agent contract with Vityaz Chekhov (Russia) in 2006, though he would never play with them.

Additional information

 * First NHL Game: With Vancouver Canucks, October 12, 1998 vs. Los Angeles Kings
 * First NHL Goal: With Vancouver Canucks, October 20, 1998 vs. Carolina Hurricanes
 * First NHL Assist: With Vancouver Canucks, October 12, 1998 vs. Los Angeles Kings

Awards

 * NCAA - West First All-American Team (1997-98)
 * CCHA - First All-Star Team (1997-98)