Sam Gagner

Sam Gagner (born August 10, 1989 in London, Ontario) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre currently playing with the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Playing career
Gagner played midget hockey with the Toronto Marlboros of the Greater Toronto Hockey League in 2004–05. He scored 173 points and was awarded the Buck Houle Award – a Marlboros team award given for outstanding on ice performance and leadership. The same season, he made his junior debut, playing 13 games for the Milton Icehawks of the OPJHL, scoring 15 points. In 2005–06, he joined the Sioux City Musketeers of the United States Hockey League and scored 46 points in 56 games, second in team scoring.

Gagner originally committed to play hockey at the college level for the University of Wisconsin, but later decided to play closer to home and play major junior hockey in Canada. Considered a first round talent, the London Knights took him in the fourth round of the 2006 OHL entry draft on a flyer, as his commitment to play college hockey deterred many OHL teams from drafting him. Joined by future NHL stars Patrick Kane and Sergei Kostitsyn on the Knights' top line in 2006–07, Gagner scored 118 points in 53 games, fifth in league scoring. He also captained Team Burns/Bergeron (Red) in the 2007 CHL Top Prospects Game to a 5-3 victory over Team Bowman/Demers (White).

That summer, he was drafted in the first round, sixth overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. On October 1, 2007, Gagner was signed to a 3-year, entry level contract with the Oilers. He played his first NHL game on October 4 in a 3-2 shootout victory over the San Jose Sharks and earned his first NHL point, assisting on a goal scored by Tom Gilbert. On October 20, Gagner scored his first career NHL goal against Miikka Kiprusoff of the Calgary Flames.

As the league's youngest player in 2007–08, he tallied 49 points in 79 games playing with fellow emerging talents Andrew Cogliano and Robert Nilsson on a combination dubbed the "Kid Line". During the season, Gagner participated in the 2008 NHL YoungStars Game in Atlanta as part of All-Star weekend and was also named the NHL Rookie of the Month for February. As part of a month-long scoring stretch in which he scored 13 points in 12 games, he also established an Oilers team record for the longest assists streak by a rookie with nine assists in eight straight games.

The next season, he recorded his first career NHL hat trick and added an assist for a four-point game on March 19, 2009, in an 8–1 win against the Colorado Avalanche.

On March 9, 2011, Sam Gagner severed a tendon in his left hand when teammate Ryan Jones caught him with a skate blade while jumping over the boards Wednesday against the Washington Capitals, Gagner had surgery and was out for the season, already with out leading scorers Taylor Hall, and Ales Hemsky.

International play
Gagner competed for Team Canada at the 2007 World Junior Championships in Sweden. He played in all six games as the youngest player on the team, helping Canada to their third of five straight gold medals.

Later that year, upon being drafted in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, Gagner competed in the 2007 Super Series, an eight-game series between Canada and Russia's national junior teams commemorating the 1972 Summit Series. He scored 15 points and was named series MVP, as Canada defeated Russia 7-0-1 in the series.

After Gagner's 2007–08 rookie season with the Edmonton Oilers, he made his senior international debut with Team Canada in the 2008 World Championships in Canada as a reserve. Gagner played in one preliminary game as Canada was defeated in the gold medal game by Russia.

Off the ice
Gagner is the son of former NHL player Dave Gagner, who spent 15 seasons with New York, Minnesota, Dallas, Calgary, Toronto, Florida, and Vancouver. Due to his dad's career he grew up in Minneapolis, Dallas, Toronto, Calgary, Miami, and Oakville, Ontario

Awards and achievements

 * Buck Houle Award (Toronto Marlboros team award; outstanding on ice performance) - 2004
 * World Junior Gold Medal - 2007
 * World Championships Silver Medal - 2008
 * Super Series MVP - 2007
 * NHL YoungStars Game appearance - 2008
 * NHL Rookie of the Month - February 2008
 * Edmonton Oilers Rookie of the Year - 2008 (shared with Andrew Cogliano and Tom Gilbert)

International statistics
All stats amalgamated from hockeydb.com, hockeysfuture.com, and NHL.com