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Nik Antropov
Nik Antropov
Position Center/RW
Shoots Left
Height
Weight
6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
245 lb (111 kg)
NHL Team
F. Teams
Winnipeg Jets
Toronto Maple Leafs
New York Rangers
Atlanta Thrashers
Born (1980-02-18)February 18, 1980,
Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakh SSR,
Soviet Union
NHL Draft 10th overall, 1998
Toronto Maple Leafs
Pro Career 1998 – present

Nikolai Aleksandrovich "Funny Games" Antropov (Russian: Николай Александрович Антропов; born February 18, 1980) is a Kazakhstani-Canadian professional ice hockey forward for the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League (NHL). He received Canadian citizenship in May, 2007.[1]

Playing career[]

Antropov was expected to be drafted early in the second round, but following a dominant season with Kaztsink-Torpedo Ust-Kamenogorsk in the second-tier of the Russian Superleague (RSL), including an international match against Iceland, in which he scored 11 goals and 26 points, he was drafted tenth overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft.[2] Before going overseas to play hockey in North America, Antropov also played in the RSL with Dynamo Moscow.

When Owen Nolan joined the Maple Leafs in March 2003, Antropov changed his number from #11 (Nolan's number for the San Jose Sharks) to #80, the year of his birth. In 2003–04, Leaf coach Pat Quinn formed a line with Joe Nieuwendyk, Alexei Ponikarovsky, and Antropov. This line was dubbed the "Skyline" because of the players' height.

AntropovGoal

Antropov scores in the 2009 playoffs while a member of the New York Rangers.

During the NHL lock-out of the 2004–05 season, he returned to the Russian league and played 36 games split between Ak Bars Kazan and Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.

However, injuries felled the power forward, and he missed significant time during the 2005–06 season. Antropov managed to produce 12 goals and 19 assists for 31 points in 57 games.

Upon Antropov's return from injury, he added 15 points in the final ten regular-season games of the 2005–06 NHL season. Antropov finished third on the team in even-strength scoring and also led the Leafs in +/- with a +13 rating.

In 2006–07, Antropov typically played alongside team captain Mats Sundin and Ponikarovsky on the top line.

On June 6, 2007, the Maple Leafs announced they had signed Antropov to a two-year contract extension. During a game with the New York Rangers on 6 December 2007, Antropov scored his second career hat-trick and was named the game's first star. In December 2007, a campaign was launched to encourage fans to vote Antropov as a write-in Candidate the 56th National Hockey League All-Star Game in Atlanta.

On February 9, 2008, Antropov set a new career high in goals with 19 when he scored in overtime to give the Leafs a 3–2 win, tipping in an Anton Strålman slapshot — he finished the season with 26 goals.

On March 4, 2009, Antopov was traded to the New York Rangers for a second round draft pick and conditional draft pick.[3] During his tenure with the Leafs, he even became a Canadian citizen.[4]

On July 2, 2009, Antropov signed a four-year, $16.25 million deal with the Atlanta Thrashers as a free agent. He is expected to make $3.5 million the first year, $3.75 million the second, $4.25 million the third, and $4.75 million for the final year of the deal, for an average cap hit of $4.0625 million each year.[5] His first year with the Atlanta Thrashers was his most successful scoring 24 goals and 43 assists.

The team relocated to Winnipeg in the summer of 2011. Antropov had the honor of scoring the first goal of the new Winnipeg Jets on October 9, 2011 against the Montreal Canadiens.

International play[]

Internationally, Antropov represented Kazakhstan in the 1999 World Junior Championships (earning eight points in six games) and in the recent 2006 Winter Olympics, where he scored one goal. Antropov captained the Kazakhstani squad on both occasions. He and Colorado Avalanche goaltender Vitaly Kolesnik were the lone NHL players on the team.

Career statistics[]

Regular season and playoffs[]

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1998–99 Dynamo Moscow RSL 30 5 9 14 30 11 0 1 1 4
1999–00 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 66 12 18 30 41 3 0 0 0 4
1999–00 St. John's Maple Leafs AHL 2 0 0 0 4
2000–01 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 52 6 11 17 30 9 2 1 3 12
2001–02 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 11 1 1 2 4
2001–02 St. John's Maple Leafs AHL 34 11 24 35 47
2002–03 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 72 16 29 45 124 3 0 0 0 0
2003–04 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 62 13 18 31 62 13 0 2 2 18
2004–05 Ak Bars Kazan RSL 10 2 3 5 6
2004–05 Lokomotiv Yaroslavl RSL 26 4 15 19 44 9 3 4 7 18
2005–06 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 57 12 19 31 56
2006–07 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 54 18 15 33 44
2007–08 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 72 26 30 56 92
2008–09 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 63 21 25 46 24
2008–09 New York Rangers NHL 18 7 6 13 6 7 2 1 3 6
2009–10 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 76 24 43 67 44
2010–11 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 76 16 25 41 42
NHL totals 680 173 240 413 569 35 4 4 8 40

International[]

Year Team Event GP G A Pts +/− PIM
1999 Kazakhstan Jr. WJC 6 3 5 8 14
2006 Kazakhstan Oly 5 1 0 1 +2 4

References[]

  1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4JGMx5l8vg
  2. Ulmer, Michael. "Leafs select one from afar: Toronto associate general manager Mike Smith says 18-year-old Kazakhstan native Nikolai Antropov has "world class" hands", Vancouver Sun, 1998-06-29, p. D. 2. 
  3. "Rangers trade for Antropov, Morris", ESPN, 2009-03-04. Retrieved on 2009-03-04. 
  4. http://www.faceoff.com/hockey/tradedeadline2009/story.html?id=1353375
  5. "Team Overview: Atlanta Thrashers". Retrieved on 2009-07-09. 

External links[]

Preceded by
Jeff Ware
Toronto Maple Leafs first round draft pick
1998
Succeeded by
Luca Cereda



This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Nik Antropov. 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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