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R. J. Umberger
Position Center
Shoots Left
Height
Weight
6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
215 lb (98 kg)
NHL Team
F. Teams
Columbus Blue Jackets
Philadelphia Flyers
Nationality Flag of the United States American
Born (1982-05-03)May 3, 1982,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
NHL Draft 16th overall, 2001
Vancouver Canucks
Pro Career 2004 – present

Richard Allen (R. J.) Umberger, Jr. (born May 3, 1982 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), is an American professional ice hockey center for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Playing career[]

Umberger, who can play both left wing and center, played his high school hockey for Plum High School. In his sophomore year and final season, he accumulated 116 points in just 26 games. He capped off his season by scoring the game winning goal in double overtime in front of a packed house at the Harmarville Bladerunners to win the Penguins Cup.

His efforts were recognized in 2006 when the Mustangs raised his number to the rafters of the Center Ice Arena in Delmont.

Umberger played his college career with Ohio State University. He was drafted in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft 16th overall by the Vancouver Canucks. He was traded to the New York Rangers on March 9, 2004 along with Martin Grenier in exchange for Martin Ručinský, but was signed as a free agent by the Flyers on June 16, 2004, just three months later. He was called up to the Flyers roster in the 2005–06 NHL season.

Umberger is the second Western Pennsylvanian born hockey player to play in the NHL, along with Ryan Malone of the Tampa Bay Lightning. He scored his first career NHL goal on November 22, 2005 for the Flyers against the Tampa Bay Lightning. R. J. began his career with the USA National Team Developmental Program after a successful developmental career with the Pittsburgh Hornets. On July 6, 2006, the Flyers announced that they had signed him to a two year contract.

On June 20, 2008, Umberger was traded from the Flyers with their 4th round pick (Drew Olson) in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft to the Columbus Blue Jackets for the Blue Jackets' first round pick, via Colorado (Luca Sbisa) drafted 19th overall and a third round pick (Marc-André Bourdon) in the draft.

On April 16, 2009, Umberger scored the Blue Jackets' first ever playoff goal in a 4-1 loss at Detroit in the first round of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Awards[]

Career statistics[]

Regular season and playoffs[]

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2000–01 Ohio State Buckeyes CCHA 32 14 23 37 18
2001–02 Ohio State Buckeyes CCHA 37 18 21 39 31
2002–03 Ohio State Buckeyes CCHA 43 26 27 53 16
2003–04 Did not play
2004–05 Philadelphia Phantoms AHL 80 21 44 65 36 21 3 7 10 12
2005–06 Philadelphia Phantoms AHL 8 3 7 10 8
2005–06 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 73 20 18 38 18 5 1 0 1 2
2006–07 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 81 16 12 28 41
2007–08 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 74 13 37 50 19 17 10 5 15 10
2008–09 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 82 26 20 46 53 4 3 0 3 0
NHL totals 310 75 87 162 131 26 14 5 19 12

International[]

Year Team Event   GP G A Pts PIM
2000 United States WJ18 6 1 0 1 2
2001 United States WJ18 6 1 0 1 0
2001 United States WJC 7 2 2 4 2
2002 United States WJC 7 1 4 5 0
2006 United States WC-A 1 0 0 0 0
Senior int'l totals 1 0 0 0 0


This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at R. J. Umberger. 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).



External links[]

Preceded by
Nathan Smith
Vancouver Canucks first round draft pick
2001
Succeeded by
Ryan Kesler
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