Nigel Dawes

From Kazakhstan Encyclopedia

Template:Infobox ice hockey player

Nigel Alexander Dawes (born February 9, 1985) is a Kazakhstani-Canadian professional ice hockey winger for Barys Astana of the KHL. Before joining Barys, he played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens, Atlanta Thrashers, Calgary Flames, Phoenix Coyotes and New York Rangers.

Playing career

Dawes played junior ice hockey for the Kootenay Ice in the Western Hockey League. In his first year, the Ice won the Memorial Cup after winning the President's Cup as champions of the WHL.[1] Dawes improved his play in his next two seasons in the WHL, and, for the 2003–04 season, he was named a first team All-Star in the Western Conference, the winner of the Brad Hornung Trophy (most sportsmanlike),[2] and the Ice's most valuable player.

File:Dawes.jpg
Dawes with the Rangers

Dawes was drafted in the fifth round, 149th overall, in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Rangers, after two seasons in the WHL. After three seasons of junior hockey and four games in the American Hockey League for the Hartford Wolf Pack at the end of the 2003–04 season, the Rangers signed Dawes to his first professional contract on September 1, 2004, when he was 19 years old.[2] Dawes went on to play another season with the Ice, recognized for his talent as a finalist for the Four Broncos Memorial Trophy (WHL player of the year), before breaking into the professional game in the AHL. Dawes finished his Kootenay Ice career as the franchise leader in goals, with 159 scored in 245 games.

Dawes scored his first NHL goal against Andrew Raycroft on October 21, 2006, in the Rangers 5–4 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.[3] After playing in seven games then being a healthy scratch for seven of the next eight, Dawes was sent down to play with the Wolf Pack for the rest of the 2006–07 season.[4] He returned to play in the Rangers' final game of the playoffs on May 6, 2007. Game six against the Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference Semifinals was Dawes's first NHL playoff game. While Dawes was trying to block a shot, the first Sabres goal deflected off of his body to go into the net past goalie Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers lost the game 5–4 to lose the series 4–2.[5]

Over a year after his first goal, Dawes recorded his first NHL assist on a goal by Brandon Dubinsky against Marc-André Fleury on November 8, 2007. That goal was also Dubinsky's first NHL goal, scored in the Rangers 4–2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins.[6] Dawes seemed to have a decided advantage against New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur during the 2007–08 season, scoring four of his 14 goals against Brodeur and getting into Brodeur's head by scoring a winning shootout goal on March 19, 2008,[7] which Brodeur later called lucky. However, Dawes had become a good shootout option for the Rangers, scoring four times on seven attempts at that point. During regular play, played as high as the second line at points during the 2007–08 season.[8]

On July 16, 2008, Dawes re-signed with the Rangers to a one-year, $587,500 contract.[9] On March 4, 2009, Dawes was traded to the Phoenix Coyotes along with Dmitri Kalinin and Petr Průcha for Derek Morris.[10] On July 16, 2009, Dawes was claimed off waivers by the Calgary Flames.[11]

On September 8, 2010, Dawes signed a 1 year two-way contract with the Atlanta Thrashers worth $600,000 in the NHL and $105,000 in the AHL. He was traded on February 24, 2011, to the Montreal Canadiens, along with Brent Sopel for Ben Maxwell and a 4th-round pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

On May 31, 2011, Dawes left the NHL and signed a one-year contract with Kazakh based KHL team, Barys Astana.[12] He has continued the relationship into the 2016-17 season.

International play

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Dawes played for Canada in the 2004 and 2005 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, winning silver and gold medals, respectively. In 2004, Dawes led all players with six goals to go along with five assists in six games, tying for first with 11 points.[2] Two goals and one assist came in the gold medal game against the United States, after which Dawes was named as Canada's player of the game. He registered two goals and four assists in six games in 2005.

On March 24, 2016, the IIHF announced it had approved a request to allow Dawes, Brandon Bochenski, and Dustin Boyd to play for Kazakhstan at the 2016 IIHF World Championship.[13] All three players received Kazakhstani citizenship via naturalization, making them eligible.[14][15]

Personal

His mother is Canadian and his father is Jamaican.[16] He hails from the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
2000–01 Winnipeg Warriors MMMHL 36 55 41 96 74
2001–02 Kootenay Ice WHL 54 15 19 34 14 22 9 6 15 8
2002–03 Kootenay Ice WHL 72 47 45 92 54 11 4 8 12 6
2003–04 Kootenay Ice WHL 56 47 23 70 31 4 1 2 3 10
2003–04 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 4 0 0 0 0
2004–05 Kootenay Ice WHL 63 50 26 76 30 12 5 10 15 5
2005–06 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 77 35 32 67 21 13 6 6 12 9
2006–07 New York Rangers NHL 8 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
2006–07 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 65 27 33 60 29 7 5 6 11 9
2007–08 Hartford Wolf Pack AHL 20 14 20 34 2
2007–08 New York Rangers NHL 61 14 15 29 10 10 2 2 4 0
2008–09 New York Rangers NHL 52 10 9 19 15
2008–09 Phoenix Coyotes NHL 12 0 2 2 0
2009–10 Calgary Flames NHL 66 14 18 32 18
2010–11 Atlanta Thrashers NHL 9 0 1 1 0
2010–11 Chicago Wolves AHL 47 27 17 44 17
2010–11 Hamilton Bulldogs AHL 19 14 14 28 7 20 14 8 22 8
2010–11 Montreal Canadiens NHL 4 0 0 0 0
2011–12 Barys Astana KHL 52 16 17 33 34 7 1 2 3 2
2012–13 Barys Astana KHL 51 20 14 34 28 7 7 2 9 4
2013–14 Barys Astana KHL 54 26 23 49 18 7 2 2 4 4
2014–15 Barys Astana KHL 60 32 24 56 48 7 4 3 7 10
2015–16 Barys Astana KHL 55 31 22 53 16
NHL totals 212 39 45 84 43 11 2 2 4 0
KHL totals 272 125 100 225 144 28 14 9 23 20

International

Year Team Event Result   GP G A Pts PIM
2002 Canada Western U17 5th 5 2 2 4 4
2004 Canada WJC Template:Sica 6 6 5 11 10
2005 Canada WJC Template:Goca 6 2 4 6 6
2016 Kazakhstan WC 16th 7 4 4 8 4
2016 Kazakhstan OGQ NQ 2 1 1 2 0
Junior totals 17 10 11 21 20
Senior totals 9 5 5 10 4

Awards and honours

Award Year
WHL
West First All-Star Team 2004, 2005
Brad Hornung Trophy 2004
AHL
All-Star Game 2008
Second All-Star Team 2011 [17]
KHL
All-Star Game 2015, 2016

See also

References

Template:Reflist

External links


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