Wade Redden

Wade Redden (born June 12, 1977) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing for the St Louis Blues. He joined the New York Rangers in 2008 after 11 seasons with the Ottawa Senators. He has played for Canada internationally seven times, winning two gold medals in the World Junior Championships and one in the World Cup of Hockey.

Early life
Redden grew up in Hillmond, Saskatchewan. As a youngster, Wade played hockey and softball. Wade completed Kindergarten to grade nine at the Hillmond School. He then went to attend the Lloydminster Comprehensive School for grade ten, and then he completed grade 11, and lastly 12 in Brandon, Manitoba. He is the youngest of three children and has an older sister Niki and an older brother Bart.

Junior
Wade Redden played minor hockey with the teams at Hillmond High School, and the Mid West Red Wings, which were from the rural area. After that Wade played one year with the Lloydminster Blazers, before joining the Brandon Wheat Kings. After that Wade was named rookie of the year. The Wheat Kings made it to two Memorial Cup while Redden was a member of the team. Wade was a member of the 1995 and 1996 Canadian teams at the World Junior Hockey Championships, both teams winning gold medals. He was the New York Islanders' first pick in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, second overall, but he never joined the Islanders. He was then traded to Ottawa by the Islanders along with Damian Rhodes for Don Beaupre, Martin Straka and Bryan Berard on January 23, 1996. The trade had become necessary on the Senators part to move Berard, who refused to join the Senators, a team in turmoil at the time.

Ottawa Senators
Redden joined the Senators for the 1996–97 season, making the team out of his first training camp. He scored his first NHL goal on his first shot, against Jocelyn Thibault of the Montreal Canadiens on October 5, 1996. Redden would be named "NHL Rookie of the Month" for April 1997, and was an important part of the team's drive to qualify for the playoffs that season. The team would go on to make the playoffs that season, the first time in the modern Senators' history.

By the 1999–2000 season, Redden was an important part of the team. On October 2, 1999, Redden was named alternate captain of the Senators, a position he held for nine seasons afterwards. Near the end of the season he suffered an ankle injury, forcing him to miss the playoffs, a contributing factor in the Senators losing in the first round to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The following year Redden continued his improvement, averaging over 25 minutes of ice time per game, scoring 37 assists, a three-point game and several two-point games. After the Senators were eliminated from the NHL playoffs, he was named to the Canadian national team for the first time, for the 2001 IIHF World Championship. He followed that up the next year with a trip to the 2002 NHL All-Star Game to represent the Senators. He would have nine multi-point games in 2002–03 and would set a personal best of 17 goals in the 2003–04 season which helped earn him a spot in the 2004 NHL All-Star Game. He was named to the gold-medal winning Canadian team for the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. He would also play for Canada in the 2005 IIHF World Championship.



In the 2005–06 NHL season, he missed games because of a knee injury and to be with his mother, Pat as she battled cancer. Redden finished the season with a career-high 50 points, and a league-leading +/- of 35, in 65 games. He had twelve multi-point games including a four-point game against the New York Rangers on December 26, 2005. Redden was selected for the Canadian Olympic team along with teammate Dany Heatley. After the 2005–06 season, the Senators were faced with having their two top defencemen (Redden and Zdeno Chara) becoming unrestricted free agents, and having to choose to sign only one to keep the team salaries within the league-mandated salary cap. The Senators chose Redden and the Senators and Redden agreed on a two-year contract worth $13 million with a no-trade clause, and Chara signed with the Boston Bruins. His salary made him the highest paid player on the team and the media and fans expected another top-notch season. The 2006–07 NHL season was a difficult one for Redden, playing with a new defensive partner, Andrej Meszaros, who had played with Chara. However, by the time of the playoffs, Redden and Meszaros had jelled and were a strong pairing for the Senators. Redden participated in all of Ottawa's run to the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals, recording 10 points in 20 playoff games. The Senators lost to the Anaheim Ducks in 5 games.

The 2007–08 NHL season was eventful for Redden. Newly-promoted general manager Bryan Murray attempted to trade Redden to the Edmonton Oilers during the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. Redden turned down the trade proposal. Trade rumours would swirl around Redden for most of the season. Redden remained a starter with the team and he played in his 800th career NHL game, all with the Senators, on January 10, 2008, against the Buffalo Sabres. As the team started to slump, Murray started to look for solutions to turn the team around. In February 2008, it was revealed that Redden used the no trade clause in his contract to kill a deal that would have sent him to the San Jose Sharks for Matt Carle and a draft pick. As the leaked deal became public, Redden publicly declared his desire to win the Stanley Cup with Ottawa, at the time still the Eastern Conference leader. Within weeks of the aborted trade, the Sharks surpassed Ottawa in the league-wide standings, and the Senators performance continued to decline, the coach was fired and the team struggled into the playoffs.

Redden's numbers improved slightly over the previous season, but this was overshadowed by the size of his contract and the team's overall performance. The 2007-08 season was also the last season of the contract and speculation about his re-signing was regularly discussed in the media. Redden made clear that he would take a 'hometown discount', taking less money to stay in Ottawa. After the season, the media openly speculated that Redden would be leaving the Senators.

New York Rangers
July 1, 2008 he signed a six-year, $39 million contract with the New York Rangers. Redden's performance continued to decline in New York where he faced considerable criticism. One writer for the New York Post even called the contract "the worst in the history of the NHL, if not in the history of hard-cap pro sports." On September 25, 2010, the Rangers placed Redden on waivers, the result of the defenseman's declining play. The move also allowed the Rangers to fit under salary cap.

Redden cleared waivers and was assigned to the Rangers' minor league farm team, the Hartford Wolf Pack, becoming the highest-paid player in the history of the American Hockey League in the process. Redden, who admittedly contemplated retirement, decided to report and play for Hartford. Of Redden's ill-fated signing with the Rangers, one newspaper later commented that "through no fault of his own, (Redden) has become the poster-boy for free-agent foolishness".

Personal life
Since moving to Ottawa to play NHL hockey, he became involved in the Ottawa community. Redden sponsored a suite at the Scotiabank Place named Wade's World reserved for critically and terminally-ill children, that he paid for while a member of the Senators from 1997 until 2008. He was also involved with the charity "65 Roses Club" committed to raise money for cystic fibrosis research. Wade also appeared in Road Hockey Rumble in his hometown.

During the off-season Redden and his wife, Danica Topolnisky, have a home near Kelowna, British Columbia. After two years of involvement, the couple became engaged in September 2007. The couple married in August 2008.

Awards & Achievements

 * Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy WHL Rookie of the Year (1994)
 * WHL East Second All-Star Team - 1995
 * WHL East First All-Star Team - 1996
 * Memorial Cup All-Star Team - 1996
 * NHL Rookie of the Month - April 1997
 * Played in NHL All-Star Game - 2002
 * NHL Defensive Player of the Month - January 2004
 * Named to NHL All-Star Game - 2004 (did not play due to flu)
 * Best Defenceman - 2005 IIHF World Championship
 * NHL Plus/Minus Award - 2006 (joint winner)
 * Victoria Cup (as a member of the New York Rangers) - 2008

International play
Played for Canada in:
 * 1995 World Junior Championships (gold medal)
 * 1996 World Junior Championships (gold medal)
 * 1999 World Championships
 * 2001 World Championships
 * 2004 World Cup of Hockey (gold medal)
 * 2005 World Championships (silver medal)
 * 2006 Winter Olympics (failed to medal)


 * International statistics