Wade Redden

Wade Redden
Position	Defenceman
Shoots	Left
Height Weight	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 209 lb (95 kg)
NHL Team F. Teams	New York Rangers Ottawa Senators
Nationality	Canadian
Born	(1977-06-12)June 12, 1977, Lloydminster, SK, CAN
NHL Draft	2nd overall, 1995 New York Islanders
Pro Career	1996 – present

Wade Redden (born June 12, 1977) is a Canadian professional defenceman currently playing for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He joined the Rangers in 2008 after 11 seasons with the Ottawa Senators. He has played for Canada internationally seven times, winning two gold medals in the World Junior Championships and once in the World Cup of Hockey.

Playing career

Wade played one year with the Lloydminster Blazers, before joining the Brandon Wheat Kings. After that Wade was named rookie of the year. The Wheat Kings made it to two Memorial Cup finals while Redden was a member of the team. Wade was a member of the 1995 and 1996 Canadian teams at the World Junior Hockey Championships, both teams winning gold medals.

He was the New York Islanders' first pick in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, second overall, but he never joined the Islanders. He was then traded to Ottawa by the Islanders along with Damian Rhodes for Don Beaupre, Martin Straka and Bryan Berard on January 23, 1996. The trade had become necessary on the Senators part to move Berard, who refused to join the Senators, a team in turmoil at the time.

Redden with the Ottawa Senators, 2007.

Redden joined the Senators for the 1996–97 season, making the team out of his first training camp. He scored his first NHL goal on his first shot, against Jocelyn Thibault of the Montreal Canadiens on October 5, 1996. Redden would be named "NHL Rookie of the Month" for April 1997, and was an important part of the team's drive to qualify for the playoffs that season. The team would go on to make the playoffs that season, the first time in the modern Senators' history. The team has qualified for the playoffs in every season following.

By the 1999–2000 season, Redden was an important part of the team. On October 2, 1999, Redden was named alternate captain of the Senators, a position he held for nine seasons afterwards. Near the end of the season he suffered an ankle injury, forcing him to miss the playoffs, a contributing factor in the Senators losing in the first round to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In the 2000–01 season Redden continued his improvement, averaging over 25 minutes of ice time per game, scoring 37 assists, a three-point game and several two-point games. After the Senators were eliminated from the NHL playoffs, he was named to the Canadian national team for the first time, for the 2001 World Championship.

He would be named to the 2002 NHL All-Star Game to represent the Senators. Later, in 2004, he would be named to the All-Star Game for a second time. He would have nine multi-point games in 2002–03 and would set a personal best of 17 goals in the 2003–04 season. He was named to the gold-medal winning Canadian team for the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. He would also play for Canada in the 2005 World Championship.

In the 2005–06 NHL season, he missed games because of a knee injury and to be with his mother, Pat as she battled cancer. Redden finished the season with a career-high 50 points, and a league-leading +/- of 35, in 65 games. He had twelve multi-point games including a four-point game against the New York Rangers on December 26, 2005. Redden was selected for the Canadian Olympic team along with teammate Dany Heatley.

After the 2005–06 season, the Senators were faced with having their two top defencemen (Redden and Zdeno Chára) becoming unrestricted free agents, and having to choose to sign only one to keep the team salaries within the league-mandated salary cap. The Senators chose Redden and the Senators and Redden agreed on a two-year contract worth $13 million with a no-trade clause, and Chara signed with the Boston Bruins. His salary made him the highest paid player on the team and the media and fans expected another top-notch season. The 2006–07 NHL season was a difficult one for Redden, playing with a new defensive partner, Andrej Meszároš, who had played with Chára. However, by the time of the playoffs, Redden and Meszároš had jelled and were a strong pairing for the Senators. Redden participated in all of Ottawa's run to the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals, recording 10 points in 20 playoff games. The Senators lost to the Anaheim Ducks in 5 games.

The 2007–08 NHL season was eventful for Redden. Newly-promoted general manager Bryan Murray attempted to trade Redden to the Edmonton Oilers during the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. Redden turned down the trade proposal. The team took off like a shot winning 14 of its first 15 games. This play masked several deficiencies which eventually led to the team narrowly making the playoffs only to lose in the first round. Trade rumours would swirl around Redden for most of the season. Redden remained a starter with the team and he played in his 800th career NHL game, all with the Senators, on January 10, 2008, against the Buffalo Sabres.

As the team started to slump, Murray started to look for solutions to turn the team around. In February 2008, it was revealed that Redden used the no trade clause in his contract to kill a deal that would have sent him to the San Jose Sharks for Matt Carle and a draft pick. As the leaked deal became public, Redden publicly declared his desire to win the Stanley Cup with Ottawa, at the time still the Eastern Conference leader. Within weeks of the aborted trade, the Sharks surpassed Ottawa in the league-wide standings, and the Senators performance continued to decline, the coach was fired and the team struggled into the playoffs.

Redden's numbers improved slightly over the previous season, but this was overshadowed by the size of his contract and the team's overall performance. The 2007-08 season was also the last season of the contract and speculation about his re-signing was regularly discussed in the media. Redden made clear that he would take a 'hometown discount', taking less money to stay in Ottawa. After the season, the media openly speculated that Redden would be leaving the Senators. This became fact on July 1, 2008, when he signed a six-year, $39 million contract with the New York Rangers. Redden's performance continued to decline in New York where he faced considerable criticism. One writer for the New York Post even called the contract "the worst in the history of the NHL, if not in the history of hard-cap pro sports." Redden is not expected to return to the Rangers for the 2009-2010 NHL season, the Rangers are in negotiations to deal him in hopes of ridding themselves of the lucrative contract, and poor play of the once All-Star defenseman.

Awards

• WHL Rookie of the Year - 1994
• WHL East Second All-Star Team - 1995
• WHL East First All-Star Team - 1996
• Memorial Cup All-Star Team - 1996
• NHL Rookie of the Month - April 1997
• Played in NHL All-Star Game - 2002
• NHL Defensive Player of the Month - January 2004
• Named to NHL All-Star Game - 2004 (did not play due to flu)
• NHL Plus/Minus Award - 2006 (joint winner)
• Victoria Cup New York Rangers - 2008

Career statistics

				Regular season							Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1992–93	Lloydminster Blazers	AJHL		34	4	11	15	—	64		—	—	—	—	—
1993–94	Brandon Wheat Kings	WHL		64	4	35	39	—	98		14	2	4	6	10
1994–95	Brandon Wheat Kings	WHL		64	14	46	60	—	83		18	5	10	15	8
1995–96	Brandon Wheat Kings	WHL		51	9	45	54	—	55		19	5	10	15	19
1996–97	Ottawa Senators	NHL		82	6	24	30	+1	41		7	1	3	4	2
1997–98	Ottawa Senators	NHL		80	8	14	22	+17	27		9	0	2	2	2
1998–99	Ottawa Senators	NHL		72	8	21	29	+7	54		4	1	2	3	2
1999–00	Ottawa Senators	NHL		81	10	26	36	-1	49		—	—	—	—	—
2000–01	Ottawa Senators	NHL		78	10	37	47	+22	49		4	0	0	0	0
2001–02	Ottawa Senators	NHL		79	9	25	34	+22	48		12	3	2	5	6
2002–03	Ottawa Senators	NHL		76	10	35	45	+23	70		18	1	8	9	10
2003–04	Ottawa Senators	NHL		81	17	26	43	+21	65		7	1	0	1	2
2005–06	Ottawa Senators	NHL		65	10	40	50	+35	63		9	2	8	10	10
2006–07	Ottawa Senators	NHL		64	7	29	36	+1	50		20	3	7	10	10
2007–08	Ottawa Senators	NHL		80	6	32	38	+11	60		4	0	1	1	11
2008–09	New York Rangers	NHL		81	3	23	26	-5	51		7	0	2	2	0
NHL totals				919	104	332	436	+154	627		94	12	33	45	55
WHL totals				178	27	126	153	—	236		58	12	26	38	37

International play

Played for Canada in:

• 1995 World Junior Championships (gold medal)
• 1996 World Junior Championships (gold medal)
• 1999 World Championships
• 2001 World Championships
• 2004 World Cup of Hockey (gold medal)
• 2005 World Championships (silver medal)
• 2006 Winter Olympics (failed to medal)

International statistics

Year	Team	Event		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1995	Team Canada	WJC		7	3	2	5	0
1996	Team Canada	WJC		6	0	2	2	0
1999	Team Canada	WCh		10	1	2	3	6
2001	Team Canada	WCh		7	0	3	3	25
2004	Team Canada	WCp		2	0	1	1	0
2005	Team Canada	WCh		9	2	3	5	2
2006	Team Canada	Oly		6	1	0	1	0
Senior int'l totals				47	7	13	20	35

External links

• Wade Redden's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database
• Wade Redden at TSN.ca

Preceded by Martin St. Louis & Marek Malík

Co-winner of the NHL Plus/Minus Award (with Michal Rozsíval) 2006

Succeeded by Thomas Vanek