Scott Walker

Scott Walker (born July 19, 1973) is a former Canadian professional ice hockey player who is currently the head coach of the Guelph Storm in the Ontario Hockey League.

During his 17 seasons as a professional hockey player, Walker played in 829 regular season games in the National Hockey League where he scored 397 points and earned 1,135 minutes in penalties before retiring as a player following the 2009–10 NHL season. He also competed in three Ice Hockey World Championships (1999, 2001, and 2005) as a member of Team Canada.

Playing career
Scott Walker first played junior hockey for Kitchener of the OHA Junior 'B' league in 1989–90, moving to his hometown Cambridge team later that season. In 1991, he moved up to the Owen Sound Platers of the Ontario Hockey League for two seasons. His play with the Platers led the Vancouver Canucks to select him in the fifth round, 124th overall, in the 1993 NHL Entry Draft. He first joined the Canucks's American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate Hamilton in 1993–94, moving to Syracuse with the team for the 1994–95 season.

Walker made his NHL debut with the Canucks in 1994, splitting the 1994–95 season with Syracuse before becoming a full-time NHL player in 1995–96. He played three full seasons with the Canucks before being left unprotected in the 1998 NHL Expansion Draft. He was selected by the Nashville Predators.

Walker played seven seasons with Predators before being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in July 2006. Walker became the highest-scoring player in Nashville Predators history during the 2003–04 NHL season. At that time he was one of only three remaining original Predators on the Nashville roster (along with Greg Johnson and Tomas Vokoun). When Greg Johnson was sidelined with injuries, Walker served as the Predators' interim captain from January 12–25, 2003.

On June 20, 2007, the Hurricanes announced that Walker signed a new three-year contract at $2.5 million per season.

On March 3, 2010, Scott Walker was traded to the Washington Capitals for a 2010 7th round pick. In his debut game with the Capitals, on March 4, 2010, Walker scored two goals, including the game-winner, and was named the first star of the game in the Capitals' 5–4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

2009 Playoffs
On May 11, 2009, Walker was fined $2,500 for punching Bruins defenceman Aaron Ward with 2:47 left in Game 5 of the second round series between the 2 teams. On the play, Ward and Matt Cullen got into a shoving match before Walker came in, dropped his gloves & hit Ward in his orbital bone. Walker was given a major for fighting, a two-minute instigator penalty & a game misconduct while Ward and Cullen received minors for roughing. There was controversy since he did not also receive a suspension where NHL Rule 47.22 states that "A player or goalkeeper who is deemed to be the instigator of an altercation in the final five (5) minutes of regulation time or at anytime in overtime, shall automatically be suspended for one game.". The suspension is always subject to a review by NHL officials, and it was deemed not to have warranted a suspension.

Walker scored the game-winning goal versus the Bruins with 1:14 left in the first OT period of Game 7. With the win the Carolina Hurricanes advanced to the Eastern Conference Final for the 3rd time in 7 seasons to face the Pittsburgh Penguins, by whom they were defeated in 4 games.

Career notes
He played 589 regular season NHL games over ten seasons before making it to post season play. That was the second longest wait in NHL history. Guy Charron retired in 1981 after 734 games, before he ever played a single playoff game. More recently, Olli Jokinen also bested Walker's wait, finally playing in his first playoff game in 2009 after 799 career regular season games.

He has two career hat tricks. The first came December 26, 2000 against the Colorado Avalanche at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville. The first two goals were against David Aebischer and the third was into an empty net. His second hat trick came against the Phoenix Coyotes on December 22, 2002, also in Nashville. All three goals came against Brian Boucher.

He was the first person to ever score an NHL goal at Jobing.com Arena when, on December 27, 2003, he got the puck past Sean Burke at 14:17 of the first period in the arena's first hockey game.

On December 23, 2010, the Ontario Hockey League's Guelph Storm announced that Walker had been named as the team's new head coach.

Personal life
Scott is married to Julie and has 2 children; son Cooper (born on July 11, 2002) and daughter Anna (born in 2004).

Awards

 * Named to the OHL Second All-Star Team in 1993.
 * Member of the Owen Sound Platers' Mastercard All-Time Team.
 * NHL’s Offensive Player of the Week for December 22–28, 2003.

Transactions

 * June 26, 1998 – Claimed by Nashville (NHL) from Vancouver (NHL) in Expansion Draft.
 * October 21, 2004 – Signed as a free agent by Cambridge (OHA senior).
 * February 10, 2005 – Signed as a free agent by Dundas (OHA senior).
 * July 18, 2006 – Traded to Carolina (NHL) by Nashville (NHL) for Josef Vasicek.
 * March 3, 2010 – Traded to Washington (NHL) by Carolina (NHL) for 7th round Pick.

International play

 * Played for Team Canada in the 1999 World Championships.
 * Team Canada alternate captain at the 2001 World Championships.