Owen Nolan

Owen Liam Nolan (born February 12, 1972 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a Canadian professional hockey player who is currently playing for the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League. He also played for the Quebec Nordiques, Colorado Avalanche, San Jose Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs and Phoenix Coyotes. He was raised in Thorold, Ontario, Canada.

Nolan is a prototypical power forward, and as such has struggled with injuries throughout his career.

He was drafted first overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, and played with them until 9 games into the 1995-1996 season (this was the first season the team played in Colorado as the "Avalanche"), when he was traded to the San Jose Sharks for defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh. During his tenure with the Sharks he was named captain, and registered his best career year in 1999-00, finishing with 84 points, and tied for second in the NHL with 44 goals. Nolan was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs just before the NHL trade deadline in 2003, for players Alyn McCauley and Brad Boyes, and Toronto's 1st round pick in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. However his performance in Toronto was disappointing, he suffered from a series of injuries and never played at the same level as he had in San Jose.

Nolan has been chosen as an NHL all-star in 1991-92, 1995-96, 1996-97, 1999-00, 2001-02. In the 1997 National Hockey League All-Star Game, playing in front of his home crowd in San Jose, he performed a 'Called Shot', pointing to the top corner of the net during a breakaway and promptly scoring there against Dominik Hasek, to complete his hat trick. Nolan later admitted that he didn't actually call his shot, he was asking Hasek to give him a break after 2 earlier breakways that Hasek stopped.

Nolan broke new ground in contract negotiations, having a clause put in that stated if the 2004-05 NHL season was cancelled, then he would gain a player option for an additional year in 2005-2006. However, with the NHL CBA in place, this option became a topic of debate. With the new NHL salary cap, the Maple Leafs deemed Nolan's salary too high, and refuse to recognize Nolan as under contract. Nolan argued that the option was valid, that he would play, and be paid, for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and that he deserved to be paid during the 2004-2005 NHL lockout due to injury. The Maple Leafs, who deemed Nolan as healthy just after the lockout, claimed that the injury was incurred off the ice and refused to pay Nolan's desired $12 million. The case went to an arbitrator. This case was settled in late 2006, however, the terms of the agreement by Leafs management and Nolan was not disclosed.

In 2005-2006, Nolan took time off for his injured knees to heal, training in San Jose at Logitech Ice. Before the playoff push, Nolan indicated that several teams (including San Jose) wanted to sign him, but he decided not to play because he wanted to be at 100%, both because he did not want to become reinjured and because he felt he owed his team that.

Later years
In the summer of 2006, during free agency, Nolan contemplated joining many teams before signing a one year, US $1 million contract with the Phoenix Coyotes. He scored 16 goals to go with 24 assists during his only year in Phoenix before becoming a free agent once again.

On July 2, 2007, Nolan signed with the Calgary Flames. He was named alternate captain before the season began. On October 22, 2007, Nolan played his 1000th game.

On January 30, 2008, Nolan had his 11th career hatrick and first hat-trick since 1999 in a 5-4 victory over former team the San Jose Sharks. He was honored as the games first star as his hatrick included a short handed goal and the game winner, and Nolan also had a decisive victory in a second-period scrap with Mike Grier.

On April 13, 2008, Nolan scored the game winning goal in game 3 of the first round of the 2008 NHL Playoffs against his former team San Jose Sharks. It was his first playoff goal since 2002, when he was a member of the Sharks and his 19th playoff goal of his 18 year career.

On July 6, 2008, Nolan signed a two-year, $5.5 million contract with the Minnesota Wild. On March 10, 2009, Nolan scored his 400th (and 401st) goal of his NHL career with the Minnesota Wild against the San Jose Sharks.

A free agent prior to the 2010–11 season, and with the intention of continuing his NHL career, Nolan was unable to secure a NHL contract. With the beginning of the season underway, in order to garner interest and keep in game condition, Nolan signed a one-month contract with Swiss team, ZSC Lions of the National League A, on October 20, 2010.