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Jordan Leopold
Jordan Leopold

With the Flames during 2008–09 season
Born (1980-08-03)August 3, 1980,
Golden Valley, MN, USA
Height
Weight
6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
200 lb (91 kg; 14 st 4 lb)
Position Defense
Shoots Left
NHL team
F. teams
Buffalo Sabres
Calgary Flames
Colorado Avalanche
Florida Panthers
Pittsburgh Penguins
Ntl. team Flag of the United States United States of America
NHL Draft 44th overall, 1999
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
Playing career 2002–present

Jordan Leopold (born August 3, 1980) is an American professional ice hockey defenseman, currently playing with the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League.

Playing career[]

Prior to joining the NHL, Leopold played US college hockey with the University of Minnesota from 1998 until 2002 where he helped the Gophers win an NCAA national championship despite pressure to leave early to the NHL. After his first year with Minnesota, scoring 23 points, Leopold was drafted in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft 44th overall by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim as a prospective offensive defenseman. After completing his sophomore season with the Gophers, Leopold became the property of the Calgary Flames, traded by the Ducks for Andrei Nazarov and a second-round draft pick.[1] In 2001-02, his final season with Minnesota, he won the Hobey Baker Award for being the season's outstanding player in college hockey.[2] He also played for the USA in the World Championships that year.

Leopold started his professional career in the NHL in the 2002–03 NHL season. He played 58 games for the Calgary Flames and scored 4 goals and 14 points. In his second season, Leopold would look like a seasoned veteran, playing in all 82 regular season games and scoring 33 points as well as contributing to the Flames' playoff run to the 2004 Stanley Cup Final, play which earned him a spot in the defense of the American national team for the 2005 World Championships and the 2006 Winter Olympics.

After one more season with the Flames, Leopold was traded to the Colorado Avalanche at the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.[3] Leopold's first season with the Avalanche, in 2006–07, was all but wiped out due to injury. Having missed the first 25 games of the season recovering from hernia surgery, he then suffered a groin injury on December 11, 2006, ruling him out for another 17 games.[4] Just a month later Leopold was injured again, fracturing his wrist on February 17, 2007, effectively missing the rest of the season, and playing in just 15 games.[5] At season's end Leopold was re-signed by the Avalanche to a two-year contract on May 22, 2007.[6]

In the 2007–08 season, Leopold was again struck down with another injury-plagued season. Throughout the course of the season Jordan missed 35 games with a hip ailment, lacerated leg and pneumonia.[7] Jordan also suffered a concussion when he was hit high by Steve Ott on March 9, 2008.[8] Ott was subsequently suspended for three games.

Leopold and Stafford

Leopold skating with teammate Drew Stafford in 2011

Leopold recovered to full health in time for the 2008–09 season. He played in every game with the Avalanche until the NHL trade deadline, when he was traded back to the Flames for Lawrence Nycholat, prospect Ryan Wilson and a second-round pick.[9] Leopold then played all 19 games for the Flames becoming the first NHL player to play 83 games of the 82 game season, Ian White repeated the feat in 2010.[10]

On June 27, 2009, as an impending free agent, Leopold's negotiation rights were traded by the Flames to the Florida Panthers, for the negotiation rights of Jay Bouwmeester, at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.[11] After testing free-agency, Leopold signed a one-year contract with the Panthers on July 2, 2009.[12]

In the 2009–10 season, Leopold scored 7 goals and 18 points in 61 games with the Panthers. On March 1, 2010, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 2nd round draft pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.[13] On April 16, 2010, in Game 2 of a playoff series between the Penguins and the Ottawa Senators, Leopold's series was ended by a hit from Senators' defenceman Andy Sutton. Leopold, who had a history of concussion injuries, remained unconscious on the ice for several minutes.[14] He returned to the lineup in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinal matchup against the Montreal Canadiens.

On July 1, 2010, Leopold left the Penguins as a free agent and signed a three-year contract with the Buffalo Sabres.[15]

Personal life[]

Jordan and wife Jamie have two daughters and a son.[16]

Awards[]

  • WCHA All-Rookie Team – 1999
  • WCHA Third All-Star Team – 1999
  • WCHA Second All-Star Team – 2000
  • WCHA First All-Star Team – 2001
  • WCHA Defensive Player of the Year – 2001
  • NCAA West First All-American Team – 2001
  • WCHA First All-Star Team – 2002
  • WCHA Defensive Player of the Year – 2002
  • NCAA West First All-American Team – 2002
  • NCAA Hobey Baker Award – 2002
  • Played in NHL YoungStars Game2003

Career statistics[]

Regular season and playoffs[]

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1998–99 U. of Minnesota WCHA 39 7 16 23 20
1999–00 U. of Minnesota WCHA 39 6 18 24 20
2000–01 U. of Minnesota WCHA 42 12 37 49 38
2001–02 U. of Minnesota WCHA 44 20 28 48 28
2002–03 Saint John Flames AHL 3 1 2 3 0
2002–03 Calgary Flames NHL 58 4 10 14 12
2003–04 Calgary Flames NHL 82 9 24 33 24 26 0 10 10 6
2005–06 Calgary Flames NHL 74 2 18 20 68 7 0 1 1 4
2006–07 Colorado Avalanche NHL 15 2 3 5 14
2007–08 Colorado Avalanche NHL 43 5 8 13 20 7 0 3 3 0
2008–09 Colorado Avalanche NHL 64 6 14 20 18
2008–09 Calgary Flames NHL 19 1 3 4 6 6 0 1 1 8
2009–10 Florida Panthers NHL 61 7 11 18 22
2009–10 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 20 4 4 8 6 8 0 0 0 2
2010–11 Buffalo Sabres NHL 71 13 22 35 36 5 0 1 1 4
NHL totals 507 53 117 170 226 59 0 16 16 24

International[]

Year Team Comp GP G A Pts PIM
1999 United States WJC 6 0 1 1 0
2000 United States WJC 7 1 2 3 0
2002 United States WC 7 0 1 1 4
2003 United States WC 6 1 3 4 2
2005 United States WC 7 0 1 1 0
2006 United States OG 6 1 0 1 4
2008 United States WC 4 0 1 1 6
Junior int'l totals 13 1 3 4 0
Senior int'l totals 30 2 6 8 16

Transactions[]

References[]

  1. "Flames trade Nazarov to Ducks for Leopold", cbc.ca, 2000-09-26. Retrieved on 2009-02-17. 
  2. Gopher's Leopold named 2002 Hobey Baker winner. USCHO.com (2002-04-05). Retrieved on 2009-02-17.
  3. Avs send Tanguay to Flames for Leopold. ESPN.com (2006-06-24). Retrieved on 2009-01-08.
  4. Avs' Leopold feeling fine after return from groin injury. ESPN.com (2007-01-27). Retrieved on 2009-02-17.
  5. Fractured wrist to sideline Leopold for four weeks. ESPN.com (2007-02-20). Retrieved on 2009-02-17.
  6. Avalanche sign Leopold, three others. ESPN.com (2007-05-23). Retrieved on 2009-02-17.
  7. Avalanche defenseman Jordan Leopold finally feeling healthy again. thehockeynews.com (2008-09-23). Retrieved on 2009-02-17.
  8. League hands Ott three-game suspension for hit to leopold's head. ESPN.com (2008-03-12). Retrieved on 2009-02-06.
  9. Frei, Terry. "Avs send Leopold back to Calgary", denverpost.com, 2009-03-04. Retrieved on 2009-03-05. 
  10. NHL.com - Players: Jordan Leopold, Flames - Stats. nhl.com (2009-04-27). Retrieved on 2009-04-27.
  11. "Flames get 1st dibs on Bouwmeester", CBC.ca, 2009-06-27. Retrieved on 2009-06-28. 
  12. Panthers get Leopold...Randy Sexton "ecstatic". miamiherald.com (2009-07-02). Retrieved on 2009-07-03.
  13. Panthers trade defenceman Leopold to Penguins. tsn.ca (2010-03-01). Retrieved on 2010-03-01.
  14. Anderson, Shelly. "Senators' Sutton delivers crushing hit on Penguins' Leopold", Post-Gazette, 2010-04-17. Retrieved on 2010-07-01. 
  15. Buffalo Sabres sign defensman Jordan Leopold. WGRZ.com (2010-07-01). Retrieved on 2010-07-01.
  16. Colorado Avalanche 2008-09 media guide. Colorado Avalanche (2010-06-07). Retrieved on 2010-07-07.

External links[]

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Ryan Miller
Winner of the Hobey Baker Award
2001–02
Succeeded by
Peter Sejna


This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Jordan Leopold. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA).


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