Kurtis Foster

Kurtis Foster (born November 24, 1981) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing for the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League.

Playing career
Kurtis Foster was selected in the second round, 40th overall, in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft by the Calgary Flames from the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League. On December 18, 2001, Foster was traded by Calgary with Jeff Cowan to the Atlanta Thrashers for Petr Buzek.

On June 26, 2004, Foster was traded to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for Niclas Havelid. After one season with the Ducks, Foster signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Wild. He started the season in Houston of the AHL, but after a hot start, got called up and played his first NHL game of the year on November 19, 2005. He scored his first two goals of his young career that game against Tomas Vokoun. On March 20, 2008, Foster suffered a broken left femur in a game against the San Jose Sharks. Foster suffered the injury when Sharks centre, Torrey Mitchell, checked Foster into the bottom of the boards while attempting to prevent an icing call. The hit which resulted in a penalty was later ruled, by the NHL, accidental. Foster had season-ending surgery to repair his broken left femur and missed the remainder of the season and postseason.

In light of Foster's injury, following the 2007–08 NHL season, the NHL added the following to the rule regarding icing to protect both competitors as they raced for the puck: Any contact between opposing players while pursuing the puck on an icing must be for the sole purpose of playing the puck and not for eliminating the opponent from playing the puck. Unnecessary or dangerous contact could result in penalties being assessed to the offending player.

Foster was not ready for the beginning of the 2008–09 season, but on October 11, 2008, announced he was skating with full gear and feels no pain when skating. On February 9, 2009, Kurtis returned to play for the Houston Aeros of the AHL on a conditioning stint from the Wild. He played in a 6-3 win over the Chicago Wolves and registered 2 PIM.

On July 8, 2009, Foster was signed as a free agent to a one-year contract by the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he posted a career high 42 points. On July 1, 2010, he signed a two-year contract with the Edmonton Oilers.

Foster has a brother, Craig, who was drafted 5th overall in the 2000 OHL Draft. He spent 5 years playing in the OHL, before playing 4 more in the CIS league with the UPEI Panthers. Craig resides in Charlottetown, and coaches a Midget AAA hockey team.

On February 12, Foster recorded his 100th career assist, a secondary assist on a goal by Andrew Cogliano, in a 5-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators.

Foster finished the 2010-11 NHL season with a disappointing record, as the Oilers hoped to get more out of him, despite this, Foster scored 8 goals to go along with 14 assist and 22 points.

On July 1, 2011, Foster was traded to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for defenceman Andy Sutton.

Awards

 * 2003–04 AHL - Yanick Dupre Memorial Award (AHL Man of the Year)

In his ongoing effort to get the NHL to change its icing rule, on February 3, 2011 Foster told TSN that there was complications during his surgery to repair his broken femur. Foster bled out and was in danger of losing his leg and could have died. A surgery that typically takes three hours took close to eight hours to complete. Foster wondered aloud if the NHL would have changed the icing rule had he not made it through the surgery. He stated he would like to see the NHL change the rule before anybody else has to go through what he went through, or worse, such as a spinal injury. Don Cherry has been lobbying for many years for a rule change, and has been critical of the NHL for not going to no touch icing.